Gover, one of the crimes enumerated, for which atonement must be made, is that of preferringĪ complaint to the Sirkar (Government), and one of their numerous proverbs embodies the same idea. The advent of lawyers on the hills has made the Badagas a most litigious people, and they resort to the courts, which means expenditure of money, and neglect of agriculture." In the funeral song of the Badagas, which has been translated by Mr. The bond is renewed every quarter or half year, and the debt grows by leaps and bounds, and consumes all his earthly goods, including lands. The ever impecunious Badaga has no means of extricating himself, with a slender income, which leaves no margin for redeeming debts. First it is a bag of ragi (food grain), a piece of cloth to throw on the coffin, or a few rupees worth of rice and curry-stuff doled out by the all-accommodating Rowthan at a price out of all proportion to the market rate, and at a rate ranging from six pies to two annas for the rupee. The Rowthan (Muhammadan merchant) from the Tamil country is near at hand to lend money, as he has carried his bazar to the very heart of the Badaga villages. All this means extra expenditure, and a considerable drain on the slender income of the family. Marriage or death, of course, draws a crowd to be fed or feasted. When the first crop is raised, the idler pretends that 'worms' have crept into the crop, and the gods have to be propitiated, and there is a feast. When a person is sick in another village, his relatives make it an excuse to go and see him, and they have to be fed. On the other hand, a former Native official on the Nilgiris writes to me that "though the average Badaga is thrifty and hard-working, there is a tendency for him to be lazy when he is sure of his meal. The coats, good thick blankets, and gold ear-rings, which most Badagas now possess, can only, I think, point to their prosperity, while theirĬonstant feasts, and disinclination to work on Sundays, show that the loss of a few days' pay does not affect them. Villages, on which they grow their barley and other grains requiring rich cultivation, are well worked, and regularly manured. The walled-in, terraced fields immediately around their They may frequently borrow from the Labbai to enable them to build, but, as I do not know of a single case in which the Labbai has ever seized the house and sold it, I believe this debt is soon discharged.
500, certainly point to their prosperity. One writer stated that "the tiled houses, costingįrom Rs. A few have, in recent years, migrated to the Anaimalai hills, to work on the planters' estates, which have been opened up there.
In 1907, one Badaga had passed the Matriculation of the Madras University, and was a clerk in the Sub-judge's Court at Ootacamund.Ī newspaper discussion was carried on a few years ago as to the condition of the Badagas, and whether they are a down-trodden tribe, bankrupt and impoverished to such a degree that it is only a short time before something must be done to ameliorate their condition,Īnd save them from extermination by inducing them to emigrate to the Wynad and Vizagapatam. There were, in 1904-1905, thirty-nine Badaga schools, which were attended by 1,222 pupils. And I have heard a youthful Badaga, tending a flock of sheep, address an errant member thereof in very fluent Billingsgate. The rising generation are, to some extent, learning Tamil and English, in addition to their own language, which is said to resemble old Canarese. possess tea and coffee estates of their own. Others are, at the present day, earning good wages in the Cordite Factory near Wellington. Many work on tea and coffee estates, and gangs of Badagas can always be seen breaking stones on, and repairing the hill roads. Though the primary occupation of the Badagas is agriculture, there are among their community, schoolmasters, clerks, public works contractors, bricklayers, painters, carpenters, sawyers, tailors, gardeners, forest guards, barbers, washermen, and scavengers. Their number was returned, at the census, 1901, as 34,178 against 1,267 Kotas, and 807 Todas. Badaga.-As the Todas are the pastoral, and the Kotas the artisan tribe of the Nīlgiris, so the agricultural element on these hills is represented by the Badagas (or, as they are sometimes called, Burghers).
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