The Chronometric Sovereignty of Nī-āla-giri: Horizon-Calibrated Solar Calendars, Intervocalic Voicing Alternation, and Astronomical Sovereignty of the Primordial Baḍugaru

For over a century, South Dravidian comparative philology and Nilgiri ethnography have operated under a profound structural paradigm gap introduced by the foundational models of Murray B. Emeneau and Thomas Burrow (1984) [Burrow & Emeneau, 1984]. This conventional framework localizes prehistoric high-altitude chronological, toponymic, and spatial notation exclusively within the Toda (Tōtst) community, while characterizing the Baḍuga majority as a modern influx of 16th-century agricultural refugees from the Mysore plains [Emeneau, 1956; Hockings, 1980]. This paper counters that framework by introducing a rigorous historical-linguistic and astronomical deconstruction of Baḍuga time systems. By isolating and deconstructing their 24-hour day-night dial matrix, their 7-day cyclical week, and their 12-month solar calendar wheel (Ēmādi), this study demonstrates that the native majority possessed a highly sophisticated, horizon-calibrated chronometric engine centuries before flatland administrative calendars 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 Baḍuga majority as the original, primordial astronomers and civilizational engineers of the Nilgiri mountains.