The younger brother is said to have shot a pigeon, and to have roasted and eaten it, while the elder brother abstained. As the Toda child started picking the grains, the Gowda baby joined him, and the Toda father brought him up and it is said that he is the founder of the ‘Thothanad’ division of the Badagas.Īccording to another account, two Gowda brothers arrived from Mysore and reached Nunthala. He then went and brought his own child and sprinkled some roasted amaranth grains in front of it. A Toda who happened to pass by glimpsed the baby, and enticed it to came out, but it would not. It is said that as one group of Badagas or Gowdas reached the Nilgiris, they took shelter in a forest and in their hurry to leave, left a baby behind, which crawled into a cave. The establishing of three other ‘semais’ or divisions have interesting histories behind them. These brothers where the founders of the Porangad division of the Badagas. Another brother settled down in Koderi, yet another in Hubbathalai. The younger brother followed his instructions and settled down in Kinnakorai, where the deer stopped. The oldest brother told one of his younger brothers to follow a deer and build a village where it stopped. After a short stay there, they separated and dispersed in different directions. The brothers are said to have settled down near the present village of Bethelhada. Legend also has it that in their hurry, they forget to pickup a baby asleep in a cradle, and even today, as a reminder of that lapse, the more orthodox Badagas will not use a cradle for a baby. The distinctive dress of the Badaga women is said to be the disguise adopted by them in flight, and the tattooing on their fore-heads and fore-arms, a measure taken to make them unattractive. The river Moyar is then said to have parted, and the refugees to have crossed over, while their pursuers were drowned by the closing waters. The family is said to have placed a ‘Shivalingam’ on the ground, and prayed before it. Legend has it too, that when they reached River Moyar, which is the northernmost limit of the Nilgiri District, their pursuers started to close in on them. The brothers, who were staunch Hindus, disguised themselves and their sister, and fled by night to the Nilgiris. He was captivated by the sister and wanted to marry her. Legend has it that Tipu Sultan was riding in the vicinity and was witness to this sight. Not finding anything handy with which to tie it again, she uncoiled her long, luxuriant hair and held the calf back with it, while her brother milked the cow. One evening as the sister, who was a ravishing beauty, was busy making preparations for the milking of the cows as usual, one of the calves broke loose from the tree to which she had tied it. It is said that during the reign of Tipu Sultan, seven brothers and their sister were living in a village called Badagahalli on the Talaimalai Hills near Mysore. This interesting piece of information is from the article of Indu K Mallah (also see the “ORIGIN” page) where she talks about how the ‘SEEMEs’ came to be formed : Again, we will discuss about a typical badaga house separately.Ī cluster of villages, which need not be close to each other, is called a ‘Seeme’.
Of couse, there was an attic on top of beskatti( kitchen having a hearth) the entry to which is from the nadumane. Every house had exactly the same configuration of Bayilu (entrance), Nadu mane (central-living/dining room ),Oge mane (inner room) where cooking also takes place (kitchen) with a large beskatti (basket) above the hearth where drying takes place, Pillay (bathroom) and Ereh (a separate room adjacent to the bayilu). The houses had common walls (Gode mane) possibly as a measure of security. The houses of each village were laid out in rows, each row facing the east. Let me write about Hethai Habba in a separate article. For the most sacred of all Badaga festivals ‘Hethai Habba’ - always held on a monday (sovara), the collection of money (Hana kattodu) took place at the suthugallu in an eloborate ceremony on the preceeding friday (belli). Being very environment conscious, they chose a) direction - always or to a very great extent facing the east and b) water souce - near a stream (halla) or spring (huttu neeru).Every hatti had a ’suthugallu’ (sacred triangular shaped stone) at the base of a ‘bikka mara’ (tree) around which important meetings (Kootu) took place. It appears that initially when the Badagas established their hamlets, they took two very important factors into consideration. Nakku Betta literaly means four (Nakku) Mountains (betta) though there are many hills around which the villages are located. Badagas, generally, refer to their village or hamlet as ‘ HATTI ‘ spread around ‘Nakku Betta’ (the Nigiris).