badagas of the blue mountains: A letter from Renuka Girish [Bangalore]

Wednesday 15 February 2012

A letter from Renuka Girish [Bangalore]

Dear Sir,

I found your site very interesting. And I am very much interested in learning Badaga language and culture, please do send me the updates of the same. I came to know about Badagas only a few months back from one of my colleague who is from Kotagiri. And would love to see your Hethe Habba, once possible.

Renuka, [a fashion designer settled in Bangalore].

Hello Renuka, Thanks for your comments. There are no books, so far and to my knowledge, to learn Badaga. However, if you go through the many links I have given, including the one on Badaga Language, may be that would help. If you know Kannada, then it is much easier. Hethe Habba was just over. You are most welcome to come and see Hethe Habba which will fall in Dec 2012 or Jan 2013. With best wishes - Wg Cdr JP

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இந்தியர் என்று எழுந்து நிற்போம் , படகர் என்று நிமிர்ந்து நிற்போம்

Karu Harachodhu - Funeral Prayer

Karu Harachodhu

In his book, THE GOLDEN BOUGH – A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION (1922) Sir James George Fraser (1854 – 1941) mentioned the following :-

Among the Badagas of the Neilgherry Hills in Southern India, when a death has taken place, the sins of the deceased are laid upon a buffalo calf.For this purpose the people gather round the corpse and carry it outside of the village. There an elder of the tribe, standing at the head of the corpse, recites or chants [known as - "KARU HARUCHODU"] a long list of sins such as any Badaga may commit, and the people repeat the last word of each line after him.

Listen to the prayer here
Go here to know more about Badaga Funeral Rites

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

Badaga Months

1) Koodalu, 2) Aalaani 3) Nallaani 4) Aani 5) Aadire 6) Aadi 7) Aavaani 8 ) Perattaadhi 9) Dhodda Devige 10) Kiru Devige 11) Thai 12) Hemmatti

The more I listen to the song 'Kappu Uttileyu', the more fascinated I become. All the 12 Badaga months starting with Koodalu [given in Capital Letters] are beautifully integrated within the song.

Go here to listen to the song.

- Sidebar >scroll down to ->Badaga Dance Numbers

The lyrics of the song go like this :-

Kappu huttileyu neppuna sundari,

Oppi hegileyu dhirachiya mundari Kappu huttile naa hathuna notta dha, Keppu na huttile ondhuna notta tha

Thatti beetha sileyu nee edhega,

Kottu beetha hennu naa edhaga Muthu muthu mookathiga sokki hodhane, netti niddane Sothu pathu neetha endhu kaathundhu endhe dha, matha hegu dha, madhuvaya matha hegudha,

KOODALU thinguvana koodile singarene ,

AALAANI thinguvatha aa aagi varasha mamma , NALLANI go kollaandhu hega beda, , AANI huttidha mele badhila hegine baa mamma ,

AADHIRE jena nodi bae thumbi maathaadu ,

AADI mudidha mele ododi bannane mamma, AAVANI thinguvadhoge dhaavani singarava , Arattu perattu aara PERATTASI thinguvadha,

DODDA DIVIGEYA dodda kiru edhega ,

KIRU DIVIGEYA siri devi aagi banne , THAI mae thalaiga thatti kai yoda aatta paatta. HEMMATTI ebbaneyu aemaathithindhu hoga beda ,

Thatti beetha sileyu nee edhaga ,

Kottu beetha hennu naa edhega

Aaththikkodhu

“Eay, Ah How” – Badaga ‘Athikkodhu’

The beauty about Badaga community is not only the unique customs specific to the community but the steadfast belief with which atleast some of them are followed by Badagas with fervour. One of them is the loud chanting of ‘Athikkodhu – saaying of EAY AH HOW – on certain but specific occasions. It is said that in earlier days [hundred of years back], when the Badaga villages [hattis] were separated by thick jungle forests , ‘athikkindu Hoppadhu ‘ – traversing the forest with loud athikkodhu chant – kept the wild animals away.

Three occasions come to mind immediately,

1)During “hethay Habba’ – both when from every village the devotees go to Hethay temples at Beragani and Peddhuva as well as when the Hethay deity is taken to ‘Madi Halla -river’ for change into new dress once a year [and also whenever is a temple deity is taken on procession during habbas in hattis],

2) during weddings when the bride and groom are brought to the ‘Madhuvay Mane – wedding house,and the newly weds are taken to the temple and

3) on funerals when the widow is brought for ‘olay Kattodhu’ and the ‘akki eththuva ‘ procession starts from the ‘dhodda Mane’ to ‘saavu hanay ‘ where the corpse/body is kept before being taken for burial.

This loud ‘cry’ is made from the bottom of the stomach by a few leading the procession and repeated by the rest following them.

I have given the ‘live’ recordings of this unique chanting recorded during a wedding at Thambatty and a funeral at Kunday Ketchigatty. In the wedding athikkodhu, you can hear the band playing in the background

Athikkodhu Madhuvay by bjaypee

Athikkodhu Saavu by bjaypee

Nilgiri Tribes - 1871

The Five hill Tribes [of the Nilgiris]. 2 Irulas. 2 Badagas. 2 Todas. 2 Kotas. 2 Kurumbas

[You can easily identify the badagas with their headgear called mandarai -Wg Cdr JP]

Breeks was the Commissioner of the Nilgiris and wished to make a record of the indigenous hill-tribes of the region before their way of life, customs and legends died out due to increasing western influences. In this photograph, two men represent each of the five local tribes: Irula, Badaga, Toda, Kota and Kurum(b)a.

(source British Library Online Gallery)

The 'other Badaga' sites, you must visit

One of the complaints I hear from our friends visiting my website http://badaga.in is that it takes ages to fully display all the contents. This is because, there are many multimedia posts like songs, pictures, animations etc.To overcome this drawback I have developed another set of websites in BLOG SPOT / BLOGGER with each page from http://badaga.in being made into an individual website that can load faster.Like for example, the most popular page ‘BADAGA SONGS ON THE WEB’ is made into a separate website “Badaga Songs on the web” where you can listen to ‘Badaga Music’ without leaving the page and leave your comments as usual.

A partial list of new weblogs in BLOGGER are

Badaga Wedding in pictures

Badagas of the Blue Mountains

Badaga Songs on the WEB

Burning Stills - Badaga Rare Photos

Badaga persons who made a difference

Badaga Jewellery

Badaga recipes.....

Badaga Funeral Rites

Badaga Songs

Hethay Amma History

Badaga Language

Badagas of the Blue Mountains

Badaga Villages

1.Badaga Origin [What we DO NOT know about Badagas is more than what we know about them. Such is the mystery of Badaga Origin. Read the complete article here]

2.Badaga Language ["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”.]

3.Badaga Names[What is in a name, a rose smells the same by any other name” so said a great poet. But is it so ? In the context of preserving the culture of a community, the names given to both persons and places can play a very crucial part.]

4.Badaga Songs [Music and Badagas are inseparable. Be it the ever green dance (aatta) numbers, the sad savu (funeral) songs or the beautiful ballads...sky is the limit. For some nice Badaga songs click here

5. Badaga Villages – Hattis[Badagas, generally, refer to their village or hamlet as ‘ HATTI ‘ spread around ‘Nakku Betta’ (the Nigiris). Nakku Betta literaly means four (Nakku) Mountains (betta) though there are many hills around which the villages are located]

6. Hethay Amma History[Hethay Amma is the deity of all Badagas. Hethai Habba is always on the first MONDAY (SOVARA), the most sacred day of Badagas, after the full moon (paurnami – HUNNAWAY ) that falls in (Tamil) Margazhi month, that is the 9th day after eight days of ‘Kolu’]

7.Badaga Jewellery [The main ornaments are the nose ring called ‘ MOOKUTHI ‘ and the ear ring known as ‘CHINNA’ . Chinna , literaly means gold but usually refers to ear rings. The type shown above is worn both by men and women. Of course, the ‘ BELLI UNGARA ‘ [silver finger ring] has a special place in Badaga tradition and considered to have medicinal / health benefits]

8.Badaga Wedding [Badaga customs and traditions are known for their simplicity, adaptibility and practicality. In this respect a Badaga wedding follows a set of simple rules that has been almost the same over the centuries. But for a minor change here and there, it has been almost the same in all the villages spread across the Nakku Betta or the Nilgiri Hills]

9.Badaga Funeral [Ever since I became aware of the verses of ‘Karu Harachodhu’, I felt how nice it would be if these beautiful words could be given in English [ both in script and as translation] so that the present day youngsters could understand one of the most important and significant part (prayer) of Badaga funeral rites]

10.All about Ari Gowder [Rao Bahadur H.B.Ari Gowder, the first Badaga graduate, first Badaga M.L.C & M.L.A for a long time who had brought many reforms in/to Badaga Community including ‘prohibition’ (no alcohol - kudi to Nilgiris in British days itself. Ari Gowder lead the Indian contigent (yes, “INDIAN CONTIGENT) to World Scouts Jumboree held in Europe in the 1930s]

11.First Badaga It will be very interesting [I hope as well as informative & motivating] to list all those BADAGAS who were / are the ’FIRST’in any field.Where I am not sure, I have put a question mark, so that someone may supply the correct or corrected info

12. Rare Photos [..the photo shows..Rao Bahadur Bellie Gowder with British Engineers and workers at Bridge No.33 between Coonoor & Mettupalayam. Bellie Gowder was involved in laying the Nilgiri Mountain Raiway, now WORLD HERITAGE, a hundred years ago..]

13. Badaga Day [May 15th is celebrated as Badaga day, every year. Many may not be aware that this has been done from 1993 onwards. The Porangadu Seeme (Mainly Kotagiri Area) has been celebrating this day as ‘Ari Gowder Day’ also, in honour of Rao Bahadur H B Ari Gowder...]

14.Badaga Poems[One of the enchanting aspects of Badaga Language is its disarming simplicity. But though the sentences are swathed in sweetness of simple words, it can contain deep expressions of emotions conveyed in the proper usage of rhymes [holla – alla] or pair words [huttu – nattu] apart from other attributes]

15.Badaga Elders [There are a few elderly Badagas spread among our Hattis and Cities who are so well informed about us. May be due to their age or the personal interest and individual atrributes, they know about our origin, customs, culture or anything connected and concerning Badagas. It is a shear blessing to meet them.]

16. Badaga Recipes [Badagas usually grow vegetables in their small patch(es) of land called ‘HOLA’ (see photo) for their regular use apart from other commercial crops like potato, cabbage, carrot and cauliflower etc. These would also include many varities of beans, peas, greens, corn etc]

17.Badaga Proverbs [One of the fascinating and interesting aspect of Badaga [both people & language] is the free use of delightful but deep meaning proverbs called “ DODDARU SHLOKA”. When you engage an elderly Badaga into any conversation, you are sure to hear a lot of these proverbs thrown in to make / emphasis a point]

18.Badaga Calendar[Badaga month should start on the 10^th of an English month as far as possible and also to ensure that the number of days in a month is either 30 or 31 days. Since Badagas consider ‘Sovara’ (Monday) as the most auspicious and ‘holy’ day, they have attached a lot of importance to that day]

19.Badaga ScriptIt has always been felt that for a language to survive, it should have its own script. It cannot remain only as a spoken language for long. But of course, the script need not be peculiar and specific one pertaining to that particular language. So too is the necessity of a script for Badaga.

Many have attempted to achieve this objective with various degrees of success. But unfortunately, to my knowledge, no records exists, if any. I am no expert on phonetics or languages or much less innovating an unique script. But the urge to have a separate script has convinced me that it is very much possible to ‘ADOPT’ an existing script and ‘ADAPT’ it to Badaga language.

20. Badaga Poetry

21. General

badagas of the blue mountains

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BADAGAS!
Baarivi, Nodivi, Oridivi & Odhivi! [Come, See, Listen and Read!] பாரிவி, நோடிவி, ஓதிவி & ஓரிடிவி

Badaga Series Website of Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash©2006-2012

Wednesday 15 February 2012

A letter from Renuka Girish [Bangalore]

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Post a Comment

Click to listen to some fantastic Badaga Songs

Click here to go to [wordpress] Badaga website which has been visited by more than 225,000 visitors

More Badaga songs, click here

Listen to badaga funeral prayer here

Go here to know more about Badaga Funeral Rites

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BADAGAS! Baarivi, Nodivi, Oridivi & Odhivi! [Come, See, Listen and Read!] பாரிவி, நோடிவி, ஓதிவி & ஓரிடிவி Badaga Series Website of Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash©2006-2012

Wednesday 15 February 2012

A letter from Renuka Girish [Bangalore]

No comments:

Post a Comment

Click to listen to some fantastic Badaga Songs

Click here to go to [wordpress] Badaga website which has been visited by more than 225,000 visitors

More Badaga songs, click here

WELCOME TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF BADAGAS!
Baarivi, Nodivi, Oridivi & Odhivi! [Come, See, Listen and Read!] பாரிவி, நோடிவி, ஓதிவி & ஓரிடிவி

Badaga Series Website of Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash©2006-2012