Badaga Tradition · The Nilgiris
Hethai Amma
The revered goddess and founding mother-spirit of the Badaga people — the indigenous community of the same Nilgiri hills the Foundation calls home.
GRANDMOTHER, ANCESTRESS, PROTECTOR
Who she is
Hethai means grandmother, and that is exactly how the Badaga community holds her — not a distant deity, but the founding mother-spirit the Badaga people trace themselves back to, whose blessing is believed to sustain their villages (hatties), land, and people. Older ethnographic records refer to her as Heththeswami or Heththe Iramasthi; today she is more commonly called Hethai Amma or Hetthai Amman.
Her principal shrine tradition is centred at Beragani, near Kotagiri (recorded historically as Bairaganni), with a second temple at Pedduva. Every Badaga, tradition holds, should visit her temple at least once.
Her temples
At Beragani and Pedduva, near Kotagiri — the two shrines most closely tied to her worship.
Hethe Habba
The biggest festival of the Badagas, held the first Monday after the full moon in the Tamil month of Margazhi (December–January).
Shown once a year
Tradition holds the deity herself is shown to the public for only a few seconds, once each year, during the festival.
This is a starting page, drawn from published ethnographic accounts and community sources on Badaga tradition. If your family or community can add to it, or correct it, the Foundation would be glad to hear from you.
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