But for a minor change here and there, it has been almost the same in all the villages spread across the Nakku Betta or the Nilgiri Hills. The best part is the wedding is celebrated by the complete village and the villagers help out in every aspect of the customs and rituals A typical Badaga wedding is explained with pictures This feature contains the photos taken by Wing Commander Bellie Jayaprakash on the occasion of SENTHIL, son of Mr.Bogga Maathi Ari Gowder and Mrs.Maadhi Ammal at Hubbathalai on, getting married to SHOBANA of Bearhatty. Ari Gowder, Ari Anna to me, is a very good friend of mine.
The greatest plus points of a Badaga marriage are that there is NO DOWRY, the wedding always takes place in the boy's (bride groom's) house and all the wedding expenses including the customary feast of only vegetarian dishes, are borne by the groom's family.
Incidentally, divorce and remarriges are not uncommon and a widow is not condemned for ever like in most of the Hindu communities and in many cases the widow can marry again even she has children from her earlier marriage. Whenever a boy comes of age or rather his parents feel that it is time for him to marry (in ancient days a boy would be considered fit to marry at a comparitively young age of say fifteen years. It could be due to also the fact that life expectancy was very low), a lookout for a suitable match is done. Two important factors that are taken into consideration are the 'MORAY' and the age of the girl. Moray is an unique concept of defining the relationship among Badagas, a concept that has very good scientific reasons and helped in propagation of the community in which marriages do not take place between very close relatives. In a village all are considered as brothers and sisters and hence a marriage cannot take place between a boy and a girl from the same village. Also, the Badaga Villages are grouped into communes apart from the four SEEMEs. In a commune which consists of say Six Villages or Nineteen Villages again every one is a brother or a sister, though the villages may not be physically located close by.
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