Badagas
The
Badagas are a tribe inhabiting the
Nilgiri Hills in southern
India, by some authorities declared not to be an
aboriginal or jungle race. They are probably
Dravidian by descent, though they are in
religion Hindus of the Saiva sect. They are supposed to have migrated to the
Nilgiris from
Mysore around
1600, after the breaking up of the kingdom of Vija-yanagar. They are an agricultural people and far the most numerous and wealthy of the hill tribes. They pay a
tribute in grain. Their language is Badaga, a dialect of Kanarese. At the census of
1971, they numbered around 104,392.
References
See J. W. Breeks, An Account of the Primitive Tribes of the Nilgiris (1873); Nilgiri Manual, vol. i. pp. 218-228; Madras Journ. of Sci. and Lit. vol. viii. pp. 103-105; Madras Museum Bulletin, vol. ii., no. i, pp. 1-7.
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