The indigenous communities of The Nilgiris

Even as the International Day of the World’s indigenous people was observed on August 9 in a bid to promote and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population, the indigenous communities of The Nilgiris continue to remain a pleasant puzzle.

According to Dharmalingam Venugopal of the Nilgiris Documentation Centre, the International Day of Indigenous People recognises the achievements of ethnic groups who are native to a land or region, sharing a cultural identity that has been shaped by their geographical region.

Indigenous people, globally, are concerned that their cultures were being lost from discrimination and pressure to assimilate into their surrounding societies. The Todas, Kotas, Badagas, Kurumbas and Irulas are the established indigenous communities of the Nilgiris uplands and their unique ways of life and inter-dependence have been one of the most documented subjects in Asia. Of late, however, there is a tendency to doubt the status of the Badagas as an indigenous community. According to a view, Badagas were immigrants fleeing from Muslim persecution in Mysore in the past. There is absolutely not a shred of evidence, either documentary or oral, substantiating it.

Some even believe the Badaga migration took place during the reign of Tippu Sultan. The first written documentation of the Nilgiris dates to 1602 while Tippu was defeated in 1799. Though Nilgiris was under Tippu for many years, he had nothing to do with the place or the people.

The 1602 document left behind by the scholarly Father Finicio who came with a large entourage from Calicut speaks of the upland communities including the Badagas in clear terms. Badagas numbered about 500 then while other communities were much less.

Some research scholars speculate that the Badagas could have moved to the hills gradually in batches starting from around the middle of 1500. The elaborate documentation of Nilgiris over the past two centuries shows only how the five communities had lived in harmony.

As an anthropologist described it, “To the assertion that war is an inalienable feature of all human life, the Nilgiris case presents one refutation. There was no knowledge of the Scriptures to bolster it; no Brahmins to legitimize it; no Kshatriyas to rule over it: yet the social order functioned well for centuries”. The end result is that the Nilgiris and its indigenous communities continue to remain a pleasant puzzle.