Introduction

A tribe is that human group, whose members have common interest, territory, language,
social law and economic occupation

-R.N. Mukerjee

The common understanding about tribe is marked to be tribe as a group of families with
their own unique names. Members of the common tribe speak common language or dialect and
reside in common territory. These people have their common occupation and common culture.
People of tribe observe taboos related to marriage and have well developed system of reciprocal
exchange. These tribal peoples are moved from the common range and are treated to be unique.

When analyzing these tribes, Anthropology paves way from their origin to modern times.
Anthropology is concerned with men in groups, with races and people, and their happenings and
doings. Anthropologist focus on the composition of races and their biological organism.

Thomas Hylland Erikson has defined anthropology in his book Small places, Large Issues:
An Introduction to social and cultural anthropology, in wider context as,

Anthropology tries to account for the social and cultural variation in world, but a
crucial part of the anthropological project also consists in conceptualizing and
understanding similarities between social system and human relations (1)

Defining anthropology he even discusses the problem of ethnocentrisms on defining the

culture,

A society or a culture, it was remarked above, must be understood on its own terms.
In saying this, we warn against the application of a shared, universal scale to be
used in the evaluation of every society. Such a scale, which is often used, could be
defined as longevity, Gross National Product (GNP) (6)

Anthropology is a broad science which includes biology, organism and social and cultural
systems. As a biological science it studies physical anthropology, human evolution and as a social
science, it studies social system and culture.
 Erikson in his book Small places, Large Issues has provided the etymology of the cultural
anthropology. For him culture originates from a Latin word ‘colere’ which means cultivate. He
defines cultural anthropology as

Cultural anthropology mean knowledge about ‘cultivated humans’, that is

knowledge about these aspects of humanity which are related to that which is
acquired

Pramond K. Nayar in his work An Introduction to Cultural Studies he evaluates the ideas
of cultural studies as

Cultural studies believes that the ‘culture’ of a community includes various aspects:
economic, spatial, ideological, erotic, and political. Cultural studies therefore aims
to include all these in its ambit. Culture is not a natural thing-it is produced. Cultural
studies is interested in the production and composition of culture (6)

From the study of the anthropology, it appears that the term tribe has been used for those
group of human beings, whose place of residence is situated in remote areas like hills, forest, sea
coasts, and islands and whose style of life is quite different from the present day civilized men.
Local indigenous people residing in these places of the world are termed as tribe or tribal.
Anthropology and tribal study are closely related. Anthropology as a discipline of subject and
research has come into existence to study the tribe it is because of this fact that some scholars
criticize anthropology as ‘Tribology’.

The development of literature and art forms in tribal communities is under construction
since their literary tradition was mainly oral. On this base tribal literature is drawn from the pre-
historic periods in history. The Stone Age and medieval history records these literature in the form
of sculpture and cave paintings. Later these bases is converted with oral and written trends. As the
tribal communities are pushed into jungles are moved away from the centers of power.

Their literature sourced inly with the life and their journey with nature. Later their writings
marked the demand with the right to self-discrimination. The main factor that deprives them is that
their migration. Those people who settled elsewhere have become like trees without roots. Their
distinct identity is based on their language and culture is getting lost. Whenever outsiders made
unwarranted interference in their lives, tribal resisted it. The past two centuries witnesses a string
of tribal uprisings. These uprisings generates a creative energy, but it was mostly oral.

Tribal literature is the literature of a search for identity of exposing the past and present
forms of exploitation by outsiders, and of threats to tribal identity and existence and resistance.
The contemporary writings and the discourse on it are in their early sufferings. These writings
draws its energy from the tradition of tribal uprisings, the language and geography.

Forward press magazine under the title Bahujan Literary introduces the concepts like
‘Private’ and ‘Privacy’ (web)

Cultural criticism an extremely broad and generally unhelpful appellation given to an

amorphous body of critical practices that explore the functioning of culture not purely in its sense
of civilization but as a study of society’s products. This aspect remained alien to most of the tribal
communities as they believe more in group than in self. Their culture, tradition, history,
exploitation and its resistance all are collectively grouped and analyzed with their life with nature.

In colonial India the problems of Tribes were mainly regulated to ban in collecting forest
produce, land revenue of various kinds, money lenders exploitation and atrocities of police
administration.

Though there are many benefits provided by government to these people, they regulates
their life only with nature and unaware of the techno-ideals. Recent news of an Adivasi beaten to
death for stealing, to fill his stomach show cases their present life to the world.

The definition of tribe in books are marked with great highness, due to their life in groups.

The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1911, defines a tribe as a

Collection of families bearing a common name, speaking a common dialect,

occupying or professing to occupy a common territory and is not usually
endogamous through originally it might have been also” ()

Fourth world literature regulates the life of natives and aborigines in literature. With a
detailed idea about Anthropology and cultural ideology about tribe this project regulates the culture
of Badagas in particular. With an introduction to Tribes in Nilgiris, the life of Badagas, their
relationship with nature marks core of this study.
 Analyzing literary critics and cultural theorists, there theories are slow in registering the
changes in thought about the relationship of culture and society to the natural world which began
to be articulated in neighboring disciplines, above all philosophy, theology, politics and history.

Cheryll Glotfelty in 1996, observed that

If your knowledge of the outside world were limited to what you could infer from
the major publication of the literary profession

In her introduction to the first eco-criticism reader,

You would quickly discern that race, class and gender were the hot topics of the
late 20th century, but you would never know that the earth’s life support systems
were under stress. Indeed, you might never know that there was an earth at all (14)

All Eco critics would agree with this, but they would add that there is also no work of
culture which is not simultaneously exploitative of nature. The relationship between nature and
culture is not one way. The relationship between nature, humanity and divine, crucially
conditioned medieval perception and practices regarding the natural world continued to resonate
in complex and contradictory ways up to the present. Ecocriticism, then remembers the earth by
rendering an account of the indebtedness of culture to nature. Eco critics seek to restore
significance, to revalue the more-than-human natural world.

The tribes inhabiting the Nilgiris district of Madras are anthropologically important for
various reasons. Nurit bird David in his work The Nilgiri Tribal system: a view from below, says
that

In 1980 the Nilgiris of Tamil Nadu were chosen to be India’s first biosphere reserve
under the man and the environment program launched by UNESCO (1)

Few studies concern that Nilgiri –Wyanad plateau and the western slope is regulated with
its tribal group which include the Toda, Badaga, Kota, Kurumba and the Nayakas. The Toda lived
on Wenlock downs on the western side of the Nilgiris plateau. Badagas mainly inhabited the
eastern half of Nilgiri. The small Kota population was interspread amongst the Badaga but there
were no mixed villagers of Badaga and Kota or of Kota and Toda or Toda and Baduga, Kurumba
lived mainly on the steep slopes and glens of the south western, south eastern and eastern ranges
of Nilgiris. The territorial division in reign was anchored in folk history. A Kota folk story
recounted upon their arrival in Nilgiri plateau, the first Baduga refugees met a council of the three
resident tribes- Toda, Kota and Kurumba, pleaded for some land. Badaga place names moreover
include which bears reference to Toda and Kurumba place names. Folk tradition concerning the
location of tribal groups alluded to an absence of territorial division.

Toda are knows as food gatherer in forest, the Kota were known as artisans and musicians
and the Baduga as cultivators. This study brings forth the life of Badugas in particular. The
Badugas are the largest aboriginal tribes of Nilgiris. They live in nearly 303 villages, called ‘Hattic’
and spoke the language called “Badugu”. Many names of places in the Nilgiris district are derived
from the Badugu language. Example, Doddabetta, Coonor, Kotagiri, Gundaluru, Kunda and
Oothage, Kaltabetu and Kodanadu. Due to lack of script they could not record their history.

An article in “The Hindu” frames the out sketch of book Paame: The History and Culture
of Badugas in Nilgiris by P.Balasubramaniam.

The author himself belongs to the Baduga community, he introduces the complete journey
of Badugas from Karnataka to Nilgiri and their current modern life. He states that

Tracing the lives of a unique people, book attempt to trace history of Badagas in
Nilgiris. The community has its roots in Karnataka. The most works on Badagas
are by foreigners.

The community migrated to those hills, mostly from the Mysore region, after Malik Kafur,
Allaudin raided the reign of Karnataka. Later, the Vijayanagara rulers and Mughal rulers
encouraged the migration, which resulted in the formation of community. Tracing the roots of
community the physical evidence is regulated with epigraphs, monuments and documents.
Intellectual evidence is regulated with ballads and Oral literature. Tradition in a whole represent
the values, thoughts and social heritage. The chapter analyzation is divided based on their origin,
migration, cultural concept and their life with nature.

The first chapter Introduction deals with introduction to the theories of Anthropology, eco-
criticism and cultural studies. Tribal literature is taken into study with the analysis of the tribes of
Nilgiris, in particular the Badugas.
 The second chapter Roots and Identity of Baduga gives a clear frame relating to their
migration from Karnataka to Ooty with various references and myths.

The third chapter socio- cultural life of Badugas, picturizes their life in Ooty. Their present
life style, traditional practices, rituals, marriages, relationship with other tribes is dealt in this
chapter

The fourth chapter Badagas life in harmony with nature regulates the difference between
the urban society and tribal society. Reference from their custom and tradition is quoted to hint
their life with nature, even in this techno world.

The fifth chapter conclusion, brings out the finding of this study and is written as a
concluding ideal for all the four chapters.