Baḍugu: A Hyper-Primitive Dravidian Language—Reconstructing the Proto-South Dravidian Tectonic Substrate Through High-Altitude Geolinguistic Stratigraphy

The administrative and academic classification of the Baḍugu language mass has historically suffered from a profound flatland bias, frequently mischaracterizing it as a shallow, corrupted medieval offshoot of flatland Kannada that ascended the Nilgiri Massif post-1565 CE [Anandhan, 2024]. This paper fundamentally invalidates this late-medieval migration timeline by establishing Baḍugu as a distinct, hyper-primitive Dravidian language that functions as a frozen structural mirror of the parent Proto-South Dravidian language tree [Anandhan, 2024]. Deploying an advanced framework of reconstructive geolinguistic stratigraphy, this study deconstructs the foundational morphemes—haṇṇi, haṇe, pēru, kambē, kaṇḍi, kēru, kore, and goḍa—alongside the socio-pastoral bound collocates haṭṭihaṇe and aṭṭupēru [Anandhan, 2024]. By tracking the empirical preservation of these un-glided structural blocks across localized macro-frontier toponyms—such as haṇṇiola, haṇeaṭṭī, haṇeyamaṇṇu, pērāru, kērīkaṇḍi, ōṇīkaṇḍi, kērukambē, kambaṭṭī, bākore, ālakore, goḍalu, and kārugoḍa—we demonstrate a rule-governed system of cartographic self-authorship that requires millennia of high-altitude isolation to crystallize [Anandhan, 2024]. Finally, this paper recovers the dual, homophonic astronomical and hydrological layer of the primordial macro-endonym Nīālagiri / Nīalagiri, proving that the community did not inherit a pre-existing landscape; they spoke its very nodes into existence [Anandhan, 2024]. The 5,000+ pure Baḍugu place-names serve as unalterable, eternal title deeds (அழியாச் சான்று) confirming their status as a primordial civilizational stratum of the peninsular heights [Anandhan, 2024].