The Nephological Sovereignty of Nī-āla-giri: Deconstructing Convective Discharge, Glaciological Precipitation, and Hydro-Sensory Dynamics of the Primordial Baḍugaru

For over a century, ethnographic and linguistic models tracking the Nilgiri Massif have localized prehistoric mountain meteorology and indigenous high-altitude survival frameworks almost exclusively within the nomadic pastoral Toda (Tōtst) community, while positioning the Baḍuga majority within an imported, post-1565 CE plains agricultural layer. This paper counters that framework by providing a comprehensive historical-linguistic and ethno-meteorological deconstruction of Baḍugu rain and dew systems. By isolating and deconstructing their four-season rainfall horizons (Muṅgāru, Kōḍemae, Ēgamae, Hiṅgāru), their specialized glaciological taxonomy (Hāṇikallu Mae, Hani), and their five-phase fluid-kinetic rain velocity network (mae hūdara, koḍedara, jaḍidara, jonedara), this study demonstrates that the native majority possessed a highly sophisticated, self-contained system of high-altitude storm tracking centuries before lowland records touched the plateau. Grounded in recent field reconstructions (Anandhan, 2024) and anchored by the 3rd-century CE classical Tamil Sangam attestation in the Malaipaḍukaḍām, this paper establishes the Baḍugu majority as the original civilizational authors and ecological custodians of the Nilgiri mountains.