CM Vijay urged to rename Udhagamandalam
Residents of the Nilgiris are urging the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to rename the hill station Udhagamandalam back to its original indigenous name, Ootacamund. Proponents argue the current name is a Sanskritized corruption that ignores the region's Badaga heritage.
Why it matters
The debate reflects broader post-colonial efforts to reclaim indigenous identities and place names in India.
While the State celebrates ‘Tamil Nadu Day’, the people of Nilgiris have appealed to the Chief Minister to consider the long-pending demand of the hill people to restore the name of one of India’s most popular hill stations.
The popular name of Ootacamund, or Ooty in short, was inexplicably Sanskritised as Udhagamandalam in 1972. The people of the Nilgiris have been pleading to restore the world-famous name for years. The name of Ooty has been a source of pride for generations of local indigenous people, appealed D. Venugopal of the Nilgiri Documentation Centre (NDC).
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