R ANANDHAN

Baḍugu: A Hyper-Primitive Dravidian Language—Reconstructing the Proto-South Dravidian Tectonic Substrate Through High-Altitude Geolinguistic Stratigraphy

The administrative and academic classification of the Baḍugu language mass has historically suffered from a profound flatland bias, frequently mischaracterizing it as a shallow, corrupted medieval offshoot of flatland Kannada that ascended the Nilgiri Massif post-1565 CE [Anandha...

The Gatekeepers of the Massif: Reconstructing the Baḍuga (Toḷkuḍi) as Path-Controlling Custodians of the Nilgiri Pass Corridors

Traditional colonial and post-colonial anthropological frameworks have long suffered from a structural binary when evaluating the indigenous speech communities of the Nilgiri Massif. While small pastoral and artisanal groups were classicized as "insular, isolated tribes," the num...

The Toponymic Sovereignty of Nī-āla-giri: Geolinguistic Stratigraphy, Somatic Landscape Projections, and the Primordial Claims of the Baḍugu Speech Community

Traditional colonial and post-colonial cartographic practices have systematically obscured the deep-time indigeneity of the numerical majority of the Nilgiri Massif—the Baḍuga community—by categorizing their language and presence as a shallow, 16th-century medieval Kannada refuge...

The Toponymic Sovereignty of Nī-āla-giri: Geolinguistic Stratigraphy, Somatic Landscape Projections, and the Primordial Claims of the Baḍugu Speech Community

Traditional colonial and post-colonial cartographic practices have systematically obscured the deep-time indigeneity of the numerical majority of the Nilgiri Massif—the Baḍuga community—by categorizing their language and presence as a shallow, 16th-century medieval Kannada refuge...

The Chronometric Sovereignty of Nī-āla-giri: Horizon-Calibrated Solar Calendars, Intervocalic Voicing Alternation, and Astronomical Sovereignty of the Primordial Baḍugaru

For over a century, South Dravidian comparative philology and Nilgiri ethnography have operated under a profound structural paradigm gap introduced by the foundational models of Murray B. Emeneau and Thomas Burrow (1984) [Burrow & Emeneau, 1984]. This conventional framework local...

The Animistic Architecture of Nī-āla-giri: Deconstructing Friction Ignition, Material Vessels, and Sacred Forestry Shrines of the Primordial Baḍugaru

For over a century, ethnographic paradigms tracking the Nilgiri Massif have localized prehistoric high-altitude animism and sacred ritual networks almost exclusively within the Toda (Tōtst) community, while positioning the Baḍuga (Baḍugu) majority within an imported, post-1565 CE...

The Pastoral Architecture of Nī-āla-giri: Reconstructing the Primordial Agro-Pastoral Stratum of the Baḍugu Language and Ecosystem

For over a century, the dominant paradigm in Nilgiri historical linguistics and ethnography—largely codified by Murray B. Emeneau and Thomas Burrow—has localized prehistoric pastoral institutions exclusively within the Toda (Tōtst) community, while characterizing the Baḍuga major...

The Pastoral Architecture of Nī-āla-giri: Reconstructing the Primordial Agro-Pastoral Stratum of the Baḍugu Language and Ecosystem

For over a century, the dominant paradigm in Nilgiri historical linguistics and ethnography—largely codified by Murray B. Emeneau and Thomas Burrow—has localized prehistoric pastoral institutions exclusively within the Toda (Tōtst) community, while characterizing the Baḍuga major...

Paradigm Shift on the Altiplano: How Classical Baḍugu Rewrites South Dravidian Historical Linguistics

For more than a century, mainstream Dravidian comparative philology has operated under a restrictive, plains-centric model that miscategorises Baḍugu as a modern, post-medieval dialect or a subordinate offshoot of Kannada or Tamil. This paper fundamentally deconstructs that assum...

Paradigm Shift on the Altiplano: How Classical Baḍugu Rewrites South Dravidian Historical Linguistics

For more than a century, mainstream Dravidian comparative philology has operated under a restrictive, plains-centric model that miscategorises Baḍugu as a modern, post-medieval dialect or a subordinate offshoot of Kannada or Tamil. This paper fundamentally deconstructs that assum...