“The Badaga community is a territorial group confined to the Nilgiris. This value lay in Tamil literacy which was slowly becoming the one sure passport to coveted official positions.” Once the earlier reservations were overcome, the Badagas threw themselves into the maelstrom and merged into the mainstream of Indian ethos. Paul Hocking in his book Ancient Hindu Refugees: Badaga Social History, writes, “… it was only after 1856, that the Badaga perceived some value in education. The early years of the 20th century saw the Badaga community, which was secluded from the rest of world until the advent of the British in 1819, harnessing the winds of change which were blowing across the hills. His dictum, she said, was ‘educate a woman and she will educate her entire family’. Many years later, Akkamma Devi, in an interview to The Hindu, attributed her success to her father who had made a number of sacrifices to ensure she would get the best education available. She had an active political career winning the Nilgiris seat in the 1962 Indian General Election. Akkamma was the first Indian girl to join this missionary school and the first Badaga woman to graduate.

His younger daughter, who also joined the school, would travel on her father’s shoulders. So, one winter morning, he walked through the imposing gates of this European girls’ school, up the cobbled drive to meet the French Mother Superior, and fulfilled his dream of securing admission for his eldest daughter, Akkamma. It was her father, Motha Gowder, a lab technician at Pasteur Institute, who was determined that his daughters should get a good education.

Joseph’s Convent in Coonoor, it was not just an 8 km walk she was a blazing trail for other Badaga women. When eight-year old Akkamma Devi walked the long road from Bearhatti to St.

Badaga king