- Madiga
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"Mahadiga" redirects here. For the 2004 film, see Mahadiga (film).
Madiga Total population 8000000(80 lakhs) Regions with significant populations Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka Languages Religion Related ethnic groups Madiga is a social group or caste group of Andhra Pradesh,[1] Karnataka, Maharastra etc. found almost in all Indian states with different names. The people belonging to this community are most oppressed and exploited in the society.[2] The term Madiga is derived from Sanskrit word Maha-Adiga which can be loosely translated as great and oldest.[citation needed] They form the largest segment of what is considered to be the Dalit castes of Andhra. There are also a number of parallel castes found in north India.
They are manual leather workers in some parts and agricultural labourers in some regions of Andhra Pradesh.
Contents
History
Madigas traditionally lived in hamlets outside mainstream village life. Their huts in the hamlets, usually referred as the Madiga gudem, were loosely connected to a narrow path that would guide to the main road of the village. By the twentieth century both British administration and Nizams’ administration began to employ them as village messengers.
In the words of Sackett, an Anglican missionary, "He (Madiga) was a leather worker. He cured skins and made shoes. He also fed upon carrion. No carcass came amiss to him, no matter how it died. The skin for shoes and the flesh for food was his dictum. [...] Moreover, he was the drummer at festivals."[1]
Traditional profession
Madigas lived by tanning the leather and It was the “duty” of the Madiga family to provide chappals and other leather goods to the upper caste families with whom they were tied.[3] They fed on the carrion (dead animals meat).[4] They were skilled drummers. With the leather tanned they stitched shoes, prepared leather accessories for agricultural works. They were allowed in the streets to sweep and to remove the dead animals.
Culture
Madigas contributed a lot to the music and dance. The origin for the Jaaz drums comes from the primitive but exact rhythm and beat producing "Thappeta" tanned skins covered on the wooden round frames and were played by beating them with two sticks. The sound variation they bring by warming them when the weather is wet and humid.
"Sindu", the same words used for "Chindu", is the warrior dance because only men will dance in that according to the drum "thappeta" beat. They tie the "gajjelu" to their feet like all the other dancers (bharatha natyam, kuchipudi in India) and dance. It is similar to jugal bandhi in Hindusthani music, a competition between the drum beater and dancer to overcome each other.
The "Thappeta" beat is so powerful that it can be heard up to two miles away on a calm and quiet night.
Self-identification via "Sanskritic roots"
Like all castes in India, today they generally believe in prestigious origins (see Sanskritisation). One such theory speculates that Madiga is derived from Sanskrit word Maha-Adiga which can be loosely translated as great and oldest.[citation needed]
Accordingly they sometimes call themselves as Arundhathiyar based on myth of Madiga, Vashista marrying a daughter of a Madiga sage named Arundathi. This myth is also used by another castes called Chakkili in Andhra and Tamil nadu to call them as Arunthathiyas.[2]
There may be ethnic and linguistic relations with Mang in Maharastra, the Chakkalli in Tamil Nadu and possibly the Matang in North India.[3]
Bedagu or Lineage or Gotra or Clan or vansh or purvik
Madiga society is organized into clans, known as bedagus. They do not intermarry within their respective bedagu, analogous to proscription within upper-caste gotras. Below some names of Bedagu.
Subdivisions
Madigas had their kin-communities such as Pogu means that person belongs to Madiga Caste
- Naari "Pogu"
- Vesa "Pogu"
- Lakke "Pogu
- Beera "Pogu"
- Parisi "Pogu"
- Palle "Pogu"
- Kolika "Pogu"
- Konika "Pogu"
- konde "pogu"
- Gangi "Pogu"
- Katte "Pogu"
- Ram "Pogu"
- Kesa "Pogu"
- Besu "Pogu"
- Mesa "Pogu"
- Kanne "Pogu"
- Madiga Dasoo
- Ddekkali
- Kolluri
- Chamar
- Samagar
- Hadagar
- panchamasali
- Raidas in north
- Gujjarlapudi
- Thella
Madiga saw themselves as "higher" in the ladder of community hierarchy. Sindhollu were itinerant dramatists. Madiga Dasoos were the counter-parts of Mala Dasoos in the Madiga community. Dekkalis or Dekkalolu were professional beggars who traveled from one Madiga settlement to another living at the mercy of Madigas. Mattitolu was another community engaged in begging. They were given a cluster of forty to fifty hamlets to go begging. Dekkalis too entitled to the generosity of Madigas. They go to each hamlet and stay there for a short duration and narrate the Madigas the stories concerning their roots. It was through these the oral traditions of the Madiga history were carried on from generation to generation.
Supernatural world
Clarence Clark, in his Talks on an Indian Village, describes the spiritual beliefs of the Madiga people in following sentences, "... there were evil spirits all around him living in trees and streams and large stones, and they would do him a great harm if he is not careful." Clarence continues to 'talk' on how offerings were made to the 'special' stone outside the hamlet smeared with red plant as follows, "... would take a little grain or a few marigolds and put them down in front of this stone, so that the spirit would not be unkind to her..." About the deity in the hut which usually was a rough wooden image painted with few colors placed in a shelf at the corner of the hut he says, "... some rice was put in a bowl in front of her in case she should be hungry, and some times thread for sewing. But strangest thing of all was this -- as well as food and drink and thread, there was a stick in case she needed to be kept in order."
The symbolism involved with food, thread and stick suggests they believed in God (Dess) who can be hungry and thirsty, who is industrious and who is vulnerable. Madigas saw behind every natural calamity the divine wrath and behind every bounty the divine blessing. Often offerings were made to propitiate the Deity who withholds the rain. Even as construction of canals and dams were shown as the means to water the lands and provide livelihood to Madigas during the famine.[4]
Dalit Goddess
The rituals and ceremonies of the Madigas mirror the space that women occupied in the society. They had recognized the feminine dimension of the Deity and it is evident in the fact that in most cases Deity manifested Her (Him)self in the form of feminine. They worshipped Goddesses like all other Hindu community worhipped kshudradevathalu each village has its own goddess (grama devatha) and in Hindu religion there is a story like all theses goddesses were sisters and one brother to them names poturaju. Throughout India these goddesses were worshipped in the name of Durga, Kali, Renuka, Poleramma, ledotamma, Sammakka, Sarakka, Yellamma, Kaamma, Morasamma, Matangi, Somalamma and Moosamma. There were also Gods in the Madiga pantheon but they only played a secondary role.
And in the list of Goddesses there were many victims whose past was characterized by the experiences of pain and humiliation. Women victims regardless of their caste and creed were not only given shelter but were later deified by Madigas. Madiga cult had both men and women as priests and priestess to mediate with the Deity and to officiate at the sacrifices. But it was women who had the lead in the cult.[5]
Madiga priestesses
Coyler Sackett, an Anglican missionary, for whom possibility of women-priest was an anathema, describes the attire of the Madiga priestess. "Mark her bold manner, impudent stare, fine figure, and the roll of matted hair lying as an ensign of her trade upon her proud head. She was given to the service of the gods early in life, and what she does not know of immorality, bestiality, and brazen-faced evil can be learnt. Her body belongs to the God. See her in her mad frenzy as, with hair flung free, she serves the deity, face aflame with ungodly lust." Madiga priestesses were consecrated for the purpose early in their life and no restriction of propriety was imposed on them throughout their life. They were free to choose their mates but they usually settle with Baindla priests. The role these priestesses play can be illustrated in the narration of P.Y. Luke and John Carman about a ceremony of sacrifice to Goddess of cholera:
A winnowing fan is put on the pot and clay lid on the fan; some oil is poured onto it. and then a wick is put in and lit. A Kolpula woman sits facing this light inside the enclosure, and she stares steadily at the light. All the goddesses were thought to appear to her through that light. Outside the enclosure, the Baindla priests stand and invoke the goddess, beating their special drums. The Kolpula woman goes into trance, closes her eyes, and is taken possession of by one of the goddesses. The people outside break a coconut, kill a chicken and pour a libation of toddy on the ground where the sacrifice takes place. The women’s face is washed with toddy. Before she becomes unconscious she utters the name of the goddess
In the following rite, the Kolpula woman gets into the platform near the shrine to the goddess Uradamma. A sheep is let loose as an offering to Uradamma, and priestess pierces its stomach with her sword. The entrails, liver, and the lungs are removed. The lungs and liver will be put in the Kolpula woman’s mouth and the intestines around her neck. A new sari and blouse are dipped in the blood of this sheep and then the Kolpula woman put them on. Lime, vermilion, black ash bottlu are put on her whole body, a broken pot on her head. She holds a broomstick in her left hand, a winnowing fan in her right hand, and goes through all the streets of the village, starting from the shrine of Uradamma. Her brother and the Baindla priests follow her, and the Magidas beat drum in front of her.
Madigas also incorporated some of the Sanskrit heroin into their pantheon and deified them. Goddess Gonti or Gontellamma is Madiga version of Sanskrit Kunti. While in Hindu mythologies these women loyally serve their gods, in the Madiga interpretation gods serve these deities.[6]
Madiga protest
To a Madiga protest is not a lifestyle but centuries of suppression made it imminent. There were several ceremonies that reflect the element of protest and some of them were incorporated into the Hindu culture. Theodore Wilber Elmore in his ‘Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism: A Study of the Local and Village Deities of Southern India’ identifies some of such ceremonies. One of them was associated with the Goddess Matangi who was worshipped by Madigas of Kurnool. It was of an annual festival when a Madiga priestess spits at higher castes in protest of mistreatment.
"As she rushes about spitting on those who under ordinary circumstances would almost choose death rather than to suffer such pollution from a Madiga, she breaks into wild, exulting songs, telling of the humiliation to which she is subjecting the proud caste people. She also abuses them all thoroughly..."
Moreover, this ritual has been well integrated into the religious life of Hindus. Though she humiliates them by spitting, it was said, the caste people would eagerly wait for their turn and would not be satisfied "without a full measure of her invective", as a reminder that, despite their low caste status, they deserved dignified treatment.
It had also been a custom among Madigas to clean their streets with water mixed with turmeric whenever a Brahmin happens to pass by their hamlet. This was a practice designed to criticize the ultra-orthodox Brahmins' belief that the Madiga were "natural polluters".
On certain days in a year, especially after the grains were gathered and stored, a couple of Madigas were permitted to hawk their wares in the village. This procession was called ‘garaga’. A Mala and a Madiga who in ordinary circumstances do not socialize had made the pair to go hawking. While the Mala was to collect the grains in a container placed above his head the Madiga joined him to beat the drum. Mala would go each doorstep and embarrass the families into business with obscenities. Caste people were to reciprocate this gesture politely by giving a winnowful of grain. This indicates the amount of space the Madiga could make for themselves in Hindu religion to express their protest.[7]
Popular culture
A documentary film, Mahadiga, was made by Lelle Suresh in 2004. The documentary film was critically acclaimed.[5]
Notable personlaities
Writers
- Gurram Jashua, Navayuga Kavi Chakravarthy Dalitha Varga Jwala MurthyJ
- Modukuri Johnson, Famous Film Writer, Poet and Lyricist
- Prof Kolakaluri Enoch, eminent writer
- Andhe Sri, Telugu poet and lyricist
- Rasamayi Balakrishna, balladee
- Prof. Kottapalli Wilson, English Writer for Dalit Cause
- Prof. Yendluri Sudhakar, Eminent Telugu Poet
- Prof.Pasalapudi George Victor, Expert in Vedanta and on Madigas
- Chintada Gowri Varaprasad, Writer on Madigas
- Prof.Tigiripalli Krishna Kanth-a prolific writer and Expert on International Relations
Politicians
- K.H. Muniyappa, Union Minister of State for Shipping & Road Transport and Highways.
- Bangaru Laxman, former president of BJP and former minister of state railways
- Damodar Raja Narasimha, Deputy Chief Minister of AP Government
- Dokka Manikya Vara Prasad, Minister of AP Government
- A.Narayanaswamy, Minister of Karnataka government.
- Govinda M. Karajola, Minister of Karnataka government.
- Nandi Yellaiah, Rajya Sabha M.P
- J B Muthyal Rao, former Union Minister & Ambassador
- Sarve Satyanarayana, M.P, Malkajgiri
- Sircilla Rajaiah, Warangal MP
- Manda Jagannadham, M.P, Nagarkurnool
- Ramesh C.Jigajinagi, MP, Karnataka.
- Manda Krishna Madiga, founder of MRPS
- Kadiyam Srihari, former Minister of AP Government
- Mothukupalli Narasimhulu, TDP Senior Leader & former Minister of AP Government
- Chirumarthi Lingaiah, MLA Indian National Congress
- M Mareppa, former Minister of AP Government
- T. Rajaiah, MLA Station Ghanpur
- V.J.Ajay Kumar, Railway & INTUC Trade Union Leader & Former Director, APTS Ltd ( AP Government).
- Padma Jyothi Dirisam, MLA Tiruvuru, Andhrapradesh
- Tangirala Prabhakar, MLA Nandigama, A.P.
- Shailajanath Minister in A.P. Government
- Gujjarlapudi Israel Pradeep Kumar, N.R.I, North America
- Gujjarlapudi Rajanikanth, N.R.I, V.A, UNITED STATES of AMERICA
Social Reformers
Bezwada Wilson, founder of Safai Karmachari Andolan (SKA) is a national movement committed to the total eradication of manual scavenging and the rehabilitation of all scavengers for dignified occupations.[6]
civil servants
- K. Chandraiah, IAS AP (Retd.)
- Kishore Babu, IRTS.
- Bhopal Raju, IRTS.
- K. Pradeep Chandra, IAS 1982 AP cadre.
- A. Vidyasagar, IAS 1984 AP cadre.
- K. Ratna Prabha, IAS 1981 Karnataka cadre.
- M. Lakshminarayana, IAS 1987 Karnataka cadre.
- B. H. Anil Kumar, IAS 1987 Karnataka cadre.
- U. Venkateswarlu, IAS 1986 Tripura cadre.
- Sudhakar Rao Dirisam, IRS Hyderabad A.P
- Praveen Kumar, IPS presently working as Joint Commissioner for Intelligence
Sports
- L.M.Karibasappa, Ekalavya award winner, five time Mr.India winner in body building, who is from Davanagere karnataka.
- H.Kenchappa, President Matanga Parivara, Karntaka.
- Yashoda, Nationala level swimmer
References
- ^ http://www.hindu.com/lf/2004/09/10/stories/2004091002370200.htm
- ^ http://www.tehelka.com/story_main36.asp?filename=cr221207The_Battle.asp
- ^ http://www.tehelka.com/story_main36.asp?filename=cr221207The_Battle.asp
- ^ http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=kMU-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=l0wMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3114,6299813&dq=carrion+and+madigas&hl=en
- ^ http://www.hindu.com/lf/2004/09/10/stories/2004091002370200.htm
- ^ http://safaikarmachariandolan.org/
- ^ Jumba Puranam – Caste Origin myth
- ^ A brief note on the Madiga community of Andhra Pradesh
- ^ Liberative Motifs in the Dalit Religion
- ^ Madiga Movement in Bangalore Karnataka
- ^ Detailed information about Madiga community
- ^ [8]
- ^ [9]
External links
Categories:- Tamil society
- Karnataka society
- Telugu society
- Dalit
- Indian castes
- Social groups of Andhra Pradesh
- Social groups of India
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