H.B. Ari Gowder, a well-known leader of the Badaga community, the largest indigenous social group in the Blue Mountains, was remembered on his 121st birth anniversary on December 4. Some members of the community gathered at the Nilgiris Cooperative Marketing Society (NCMS) here and garlanded a bust of the leader installed near the threshold of the Society’s multi-purpose hall. Among them were the president of the Society Kannabiran and T.M. Kullan of Tribal Solidarity. Participants pointed out that Gowder has for long been considered as the uncrowned king of the Badagas. A widely respected philanthropist, he was instrumental in the NCMS coming into being in the 1930s to protect farmers from middlemen and unscrupulous members of the mercantile community.
Members of the Academy for Badaga Culture (ABC) Trust led by its president Manjai V. Mohan also paid floral tributes to the leader.
