‘Badaga Community’- படுக சமுதாயம் By Sivaji Raman

During the present visit to the Nilgiris (Jan,2010) I came across another book on Badaga byJakkanaarai SIVAJI RAMAN. The book is in Tamil and titled ‘படுக சமுதாயம் [Badaga Samudhayam]‘ – Badaga Community. It appears to be a private publication with a forward by Rev.Malli (Originally of Kerbetta Village).

One of the most interesting information Sivaji Raman conveys in his book is that Badaga language finds extensive mention in old – purana – Tamil literature like  ” Tholkaeppiam” where it is  clearly mentioned that Badaga was a separate language spoken in a northernnation to Tamil nadu called ‘VADAGAM [Badaga]‘, the other ‘countries’ being Karnadagam [Kannada], Konganam [Konkani], Kudagam [Coorgi], Thuluvam [Thulu], Telingam [Telugu] and  Kalingam [Oriya]. He goes on to quote a few verses where ‘vadaga’ is mentioned. He is of the opinion that Badaga can be traced back to 2300 years.

Sivaji Raman laments :

‘ படுக மொழி தற்பொழுது படிப்பு, தொழில் ஆகியவற்றில் தமிழ் மற்றும் ஆங்கில்லத்தின் தாக்கம் காரணமாக மிகவும் மாறுபட்டு பேசப்படுகிறது. தூய படுகு தெரிந்தவர்களே இல்லை என்றாகிவிட்டது. இது படுக மொழியில் சொல் பஞ்ச்சத்தால் ஏற்பட்டதன்று. படுக மொழியின் ஏராளமான சொற்கள் மறக்கப்பட்டு மறைந்து விட்டன. இதற்கு காரணம் படுகு மொழிக்கு வரிவடிவம் இல்லாததேயாகும் ‘  ( Badaga is spoken very differently due to the influence  by Tamil and English on education and profession. It appears that there are none who know ‘PURE’ Badaga. This is not due to lack of words in Badaga. Lot of Badaga words have been forgotten [due to the influence of Tamil and English] and hence become extinct. The reason for this is that BADAGA language DOES NOT HAVE A SCRIPT).

I totally agree with him.

There is a lot of information on Badaga Habbas like ‘Dhodda Habba, Biththu Ikkuva Habba, Uppu Attuva Habba, Sakkalaaththi’ etc apart from a variety of topics on and of Badaga.

Another laudable effort by a Badaga on Badaga.

Very interesting book. Hope to write more on this book soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Updates..3

I had mentioned about Jakkanare Sivaji Raman’s book on Badaga Community called ‘Badaga Samudhaayam’. No price is mentioned for this book but you may get it in Kotagiri.

There are a lot of interesting nuggets of new information that many of us are not even aware of. Here is a sample of ‘rare’ pictorial pickings. [All the pictures are from the book]

When a village was [hatti] was formed, a ‘Hethappa [Ancestor] Kallu [Stone]‘ was created and then a ‘Devva Mane [God's House - Temple]‘ was built.

‘Hebbaiyilu’ [First /Big Threshold]‘ is the entrance to a village [Akka Bakka?]. It consists of two vertical stone pillars with a central horizontal stone containing carvings.

Hebbaiyilu

Hethappa Suththukal

Devva Mane

 20/02/2010  Bellie Jayaprakash   2 Comments Edit this

Books On Badagas

‘Paamé’ – A Book By Bala

“ Paamé ” – The History And Culture Of The Badagas Of The Nilgiris By B.Balasubramaniam, Encompasses A Comprehensive History Of The Badaga Community And Showcases To The World The Unique Aspects Of Badaga History And Culture And Is A Treasure Trove In Ethnology.

At last we have an authentic book on the Badagas of the Nilgiri Mountains in south India by Jagathala Bella Gowder BALASUBRAMANIAM, an engineer by profession who has authored many books on management. Known among friends as Bala, is the second son of another great Badaga Mr.Bella Gowder whose knowledge on and of Badagas is legendary. Bella Gowder is 92 years young and is fit as a fiddle. See this page to know about this informed elder

Bala with his wife Gayathri, great grand daughter of Rao Bahadur HJ Bellie Gowder. The cover design of this book is based on her oil painting of ‘an elderly Badaga man dressed in traditional attire, telling stories to two boys around a fire‘- Ayya paame haygudhuna, kichu gaadhundu kunave kethra

Bala, who is known to me for the past many decades, told me in an exclusive chat that it took him two and a half years of research and labour to produce this book ‘Paame’ which he wanted to be as authentic as possible as far as the origin and history of the Badagas are concerned. Though, for practical purposes, he had to restrict the number of pages, he has material for another hundred pages which he may incorporate in the future editions.

This book is published by Elkon Animations, Bangalore and is priced at Rs.295/- Incidentally, Elkon Animations is owned by another talented and great Badaga Engineer and my friend Yedapally Raju who, by the way, is a good friend of Infosys Narayanamurthy .

You may buy this book from leading book stores located in M.G.Road, Bangalore or from the Publishers at Elkon Animations, 11 First Cross, Bhuvaneshwari Nagar, CV Raman Nagar, Bangalore – 560093.It is available at Higginbothams Ooty,Chennai and Coimbatore and also at Oxford book house, Coimbatore.

I have gone through the book a couple of times and can say with confidence that this book will make every Badaga very proud to belong to this great and unique community.

My only crib is that the book could have had more pictures

‘Paame’is a promising book.The amount of hard work – research – is visible right through. Bala makes his intention of writing this book right in the beginning in the ‘Preface’ 

“This book is primarily intended to showcase to the world the history of this small, well-knit(Badaga)community, that till half a century ago was only residing in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamilnadu.At the start of the 20th Century, a few leaders of the community with the immense foresight saw the future of the community prospering only by imparting formal education to their youth”