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

Abstract

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 plains agricultural layer. This paper challenges this deeply entrenched view by conducting a rigorous historical-linguistic and ethno-archaeological analysis of Baḍugu Animistic Ritualism. By deconstructing the morphological syntax and operational mechanics of their friction-fire apparatus (nelikōlu), their five-phase verbal fire engine (kiccu kaccu, dīvige kaccu, kiccoṭṭu, kicciḍiccu, kiccikku), their elemental fire mass (keṇḍa), their dative-inflected hydrological litany (alaga hālu), and their temporary organic forest sanctuaries (banaguḍi), this study exposes a complex, self-contained system of primal nature worship. Grounded in the text நீஆலகிரியும் படுக என்னும் தொல்குடியும் (Anandhan, 2024) and anchored by the 3rd-century CE classical Tamil Sangam attestation of the Baḍugar in the Malaipaḍukaḍām, this paper demonstrates that the native majority maintained an unbroken, two-millennium elemental worldview entirely integrated with the Nilgiri ecosystem.