Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/356

MADIGA "The Mādigas," Mr. H. A. Stuart informs us,* " will not take food or water from Pariahs, nor the latter from the former, a prejudice which is taken advantage of in the Kālahasti Rāja's stables to prevent theft of gram by the Pariah horse-keepers, the raw gram being sprinkled with water by Mādigas in the sight of the Pariahs."

There are Telugu proverbs to the effect that "under the magili system of cultivation, even a Mādiga will grow good crops," and "not even a Mādiga will sow before Malapunnama."

Writing concerning the Madigas, † the Rev. H. Huizinga states that "they live in hamlets at a respectable distance from the villages of the caste people, by whom they are greatly despised. Their habits are squalid in the extreme, and the odour of a Mādiga hamlet is revolting. They perform all the lowest kinds of service for the caste people, especially bearing burdens and working in leather. They take charge of the ox or buffalo as soon as it dies. They remove the skin and tan it, and eat the loathsome carcase, which makes them specially despised, and renders their touch polluting. Some of the skins are used for covering the rude drums that are so largely used in Hindu festivals, and beaten in honour of the village deities. The caste men impress the Mādigas into their service, not only to make the drums, but also to beat them at their feasts. It may be mentioned that nearly ten per cent, of the Mādigas are nominal Christians, and, in some parts of the Nellore district, the Christians form over half of the Mādiga population. This changes their habits of life