The Badaga language is a southern Dravidian language (Tamil-Kannada branch) spoken by approximately 250,000 people (the Badagas) in the Nilgiri Hills in Southern India. It is known for its retroflex vowels. Tamil Nadu (தமிழ் நாடு, Land of the Tamils) is a state at the southern tip of India. ... Chennai   (Tamil: ), formerly known as Madras  , is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is Indias fourth largest metropolitan city. ... Map of The Nilgiris district The Nilgiris or Blue Mountains, often called The Queen of Hills are a range of mountains and a district in the south-Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and eastern and central India, as well as in parts of Afghanistan and Iran. ... This is a sub-classification of the Dravidian family of languages. ... Tamil and Kannada are two dravidian langauages. ... Writing Systems of the World today A Specimen of typeset fonts and languages, by William Caslon, letter founder; from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... The Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 26 languages that are mainly spoken in southern India and Sri Lanka, as well as certain areas in Pakistan, Nepal, and eastern and central India. ... Tamil and Kannada are two dravidian langauages. ... The Badagas are an indigenous people inhabiting the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, southern India. ... Map of The Nilgiris district The Nilgiris or Blue Mountains are a range of mountains and a district in the south-Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. ... Spectrogram of a regular vowel and its rhotacized counterpart. ...

External links

• Badaga at Ethnologue

The Badagas are an indigenous people inhabiting the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu, southern India. They form the largest indigenous community in the Nilgiri region, with a population of approximately 150,000 encompassing some 370-odd villages and smaller settlements[1]. Under the Indian government's Scheduled Castes and Tribes system, they are not as yet formally recognised as a Scheduled Tribe (Adivasi), although the people themselves have agitated for this recognition. They are registered as a Backward Caste, (now referred to as other backward caste(OBC) caste). Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with native language biblical texts. ...

Their aspirations to be recognised as a tribe, rather than a caste, is complicated by their historical and contemporary social relations with other Nilgiri peoples, from whom they have asserted some differences and even a social precedence. For example, the Badagas have traditionally hired musicians from other Nilgiri groups (such as the Kota and Irula) to play at their social functions, which is symbolic of submission and control in that region[2]. However, they are also known to have paid tribute in grain to other groups, such as the Todas. In general, neither stereotype of caste or tribe can be readily applied.

They are most likely Dravidian by descent, though they are by religion Hindus of the Saiva sect. Research has indicated they migrated to the Nilgiris from the Mysore region, sometime around 1600 after the break-up of the kingdom of Vijayanagara[3].

They are an agricultural people and far the most numerous and wealthy of the hill tribes. Many have relocated to towns and cities of the region, and earn income from urban-style employment.

Their language is Badaga, a dialect of Kannada

The badagas have been considered to be of dravidian origin due to the fact that the language spoken is Dravidian but it is also disputed that thier customs, cultural aspects are distinct and not closely related to other Ethnic Groups hence thier origins are in debate.

Origin of the Badagas

The badagas have been considered to be of dravidian origin due to the fact that the language spoken is Dravidian but it is also disputed that thier customs, cultural aspects are distinct and not closely related to other Ethnic Groups hence thier origins are in debate.

Natives of the Nilgiris

Of late the theory put forth by leading scholars have strongly criticised the migration theory and have said that the badagas are natives of the Nilgiris. Philology states that in the beginning languages existed without scripts and only later scripts were developed. Hence this seems to be a justification that the badagas were completely an indegenous people due to the absence in thier script, but an ancient indegenous group would have a higher population or would have been completely extinct which questions the validity of this theory.With regard to religion, prior to converting to Hinduism the badagas were nature worshippers, even today worship stones with nature being a central theme can be found in the Nilgiris, Nature worship suggests that the badagas like the ancient Greeks and the Egyptians were an ancient ethnic group.

The European Connection

Others state that the badagas have migrated from Central/East Europe. It is justified that the Badaga ethnic group from Central/East Europe for survival had to accept the local language after migration to southern India and then to the Nilgiri Hills (the nilgiris then belonged to the Vijayanagara Empire), hence the dialect of Kannada. The badagas hence adopted the language for verbal communication and did not accept the Script as it was Foreign to them. The date of the second migration from present Karnataka is probably said to be around 1500 AD - 1600 AD. The population vs time graph indicates that the original badagas were just a handful of about 15 - 30 persons. However the European migration theory has no credible evidence but still under debate.

Genomic Studies i.e a Y-chromosome DNA marker test on the badagas have resulted in the badagas belonging to the broader R1a and specifically R1a1 Haplogroup. A good percentage of people in Central Europe,East Europe,Scandinavia and the people of Punjab also belong to this R1a1 Haplogroup. Hence this has been suggestive of the fact that the badagas are of an Eurasian origin.

The other Ethnic group from southern India which belongs to the R1a1 haplogroup are the Kodava whose customs and cultural aspects for centuries have been said to be related to the Badagas.