మాలలు, మాదిగలు, శూద్రులు

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IV

MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

The consideration of the subject of this chapter brings us at once to the question of caste. Hindu society is divided into a vast number of sections, which are fenced off one from another by rules unparal- strictness anywhere in the world. leled for are chiefly concerned with two things, marriage and food. One caste is distinguished from another by the fact that the members of the two may not intermarry, and that there are severe restrictions on their eating and drinking At the same time the tie between members together. of the same caste is that they all follow, roughly speaking, the same occupation. In addition to these obvious facts, will commonly relate mythical the persons concerned stories of the origin of the caste and of a legendary ancestor, human or divine. is an ancient institution, but does not Caste neglect. go back even to the beginning of the history of the race. Similarly, for practical purposes, we need not dwell on the fourfold division of castes as it exists in books. value there may once have been in it, that division does not help to an understanding of the facts of to-day- 73

Caste, It is well known that These rules its descent from These we may Whatever

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

74 The castes, as we come into contact with them in our work, may be briefly described as follows, taking them the Brahmans, divided into a number in order of rank : next, certain classes of trades of sections ; large number of castes, mainly farmers and artisans, grouped together under the name of Sudras castes ranking below these two under names, besides, some aboriginal of whom the Chenchus, caste system, of the wild jungles on the hills, are one. The facts which have determined the rank of castes are, first, the extent to which they acknowledge the su- premacy of the Brahmans and use them in a sacerdotal capacity secondly, ; countenanced by the Brahmans, such as the eating of beef, and the remarriage of widows social position and their occupation. for example, working in leather, are considered as per se Rank in the list of castes is reflected in the degrading. extent to which a lower caste is believed to pollute those for instance, are supposed to pollute above Some, it. by their touch, others by their mere presence. is impossible It A few the castes. made without risk. Brah- mans. present the original stock of the Aryan invaders of India The Dravidian inhabitants of India in its purest form. were a dark-skinned race The latter possessed the higher been enormously outnumbered by have

thirdly, a ; all ; then certain and lastly, the out-castes, ; and Malas There Madigas. are, tribes who stand outside the the inhabitants customs not retention of their ; and thirdly, their Some trades, as, historically, the origin of to trace, however, may be generalisations, The Brahmans are supposed to re- the Aryan invaders were fair. ; civilisation, but must the former.

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MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

The preservation of their civilisation and the preservation of their colour would necessarily become very closely And thus quite early would arise that fierce associated. resistance to the threatened swamping of sation, which took the form of absolute prohibition of marriage with the darker race. the Sanskrit word for caste, We may same tendency the see countries where a small fair community is surrounded by It may be noted, too, that the Brah- a large dark one. mans, who represent those in whose interest chiefly the caste system sprang into being, special guardians of the system. The castes ranking just below that of the Brahmans may reasonably be supposed to be the descendants of invaders who mixed Aryan greater degree with that of the people of the country. But it is more important to consider the case of those aboriginal inhabitants who were not exterminated nor displaced, but remained to form in most parts the vast majority of the ensuing population. In the Telugu country the problem The Aryan invaders probably came into plicated one. the country in very small numbers, The bulk military leaders. converted to Hinduism, were classified under the head of To this day the Sudras contain all the classes Sudras. that would have been necessary primitive organisation. social Sudras, then, as the representatives of the original Dra- vidian owners of the country.

75 their civili- It bears this out that ' varna,' means also colour. at work to-day in this day the to are a blood in or their less is not a com- Sudras. as teachers or as the population, when of for a somewhat more We may regard the The out-castes, again,

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

76 probably represent They a lower status. until very recent condition reasonable suppose to the classes which were in the position of Brahman domination began. But if it is impossible to trace the rise of the castes Caste historically, it is possible to enumerate some forces which, under the peculiar circumstances of India, would be likely to give rise to a caste system. mentioned—^racial aversion second is the importance attached to tribal descent in the process of settling a new country. in influence as the community progressed decline The third is the convenience, in the village civilisation. community, basing of This principle, in a very small community, has principle. obvious advantages. of the necessary artisans what is of equal importance, kept up in due proportion relatively to the village needs. the difficulties of apprenticeship and technical training by requiring every boy to learn his trade in his father's It is not difficult to see, then, how trades in the house. village came be to tenure hereditary of it would be the chief of the social established custom, forces tending to the rise and persistence of caste. is an Caste institution dividual by surrounding him from childhood with rules and restrictions which limit his action in almost every

the same blood but of of classes were a in practically servile times, and un- not it is that they are descended from serfs when the The first has been already The on based colour. This force would in on occupation hereditary the It is the one by which the supply is most easily kept up, and, it gets over Moreover, And when once the hereditary. became occupation the firmly that circumscribes the in-

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MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

The immediate guardians of the caste rules direction. are the panchayat or council of the caste. ment for breaking its rules will be either a fine, utilised feasting the members in perhaps, some humiliating ceremonies, or excommuni- The latter means that the person cation from the caste. concerned wUl be unable to arrange marriages in many ways and children, It is a contingency which very few indeed dare society. to face for any cause. Caste thus to a very large extent destroys the independence of the individual. enemy most imaginable potent character, and is thus a standing hindrance to progress. And yet, in a sense, the rigidity of caste has been Though the exaggerated. the boundaries of his caste, yet the caste rules and the social grading of castes are not, absolutely unalterable. may note that caste customs vary in different places for the members of the same caste. caste, exposed to different adopted different procedure. forbidding a journey to Europe. dividual who, in defiance of this rule, travels to England, infallibly be excommunicated wiU, on his return, will compound for the offence with a other places he In one instance it remains on record money payment. how the laxer rule came to be instituted. place, the first man of a certain caste to visit England was shrewd enough immediately on his return to invite his

I']

The punish- of the together with, caste, his for ostracised from be will is the It individuality to of social individual cannot overstep is often assumed, as first point we As regards the This means that the circumstances, has of sets Take the case of the rule In some places the in- in ; In a certain

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

78 to a fellow-castemen excommunicated, they accepted the invitation after partaking of his feast, they were no longer able to excommunicate him, an act which would have involved the excommunication action opened the door to European travel for the whole of a caste in one place. not Moreover, is it qualification that the grading of castes well known It fixed. is scale by such the in Thus Brahmans who have taken occupation. culture have sunk below their fellow-castemen who have retained sacerdotal functions. is more difficult than a rise unknown of castes holding a position to which descent would not alone entitle tribes especially, social standing comes, in the long run, to be proportioned to the actual importance of the com- Human nature munity. Thus in some parts the powerful India as in Europe. owners of the not soU, forced their way into one of the higher castes. outlying districts the rajas have even retained the power raising the status of the way in which character will win social recognition wUl be found in the position of Indian Christians. the towns especially, Hindus of high caste will often be eating and drinking with found risen from the depressed classes, whUe they would not think of consorting with the cousins of these latter who

As he had not yet been feast. and, ; Thus this single of themselves. true without taken be as to is unalterably communities may that fall as change a simple process of to agri- It may be true that a fall, but instances are not Among them. agricultural is fundamentally the same in aU, have originally Hindus at In some Striking examples of of castes. In Christians who have

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MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

have remained heathen. such a thing takes place in the more conservative country But in our Telugu country it is not unknown for parts. a Christian teacher of Mala origin, known to the Sudras through of their boys his teaching character and abilities, to be admitted to eat and drink with them. It wiU be seen from the above that the system of caste, neither origin in its operation the outside ing, is The economical nature. and favoured rise, its to the newer social and economical forces sponsive the present time. As might be expected, castes show more tendency to multiply than to diminish in numbers. sections of a caste to drift apart, and finally, so far at least as intermarriage is concerned, to become separate, than for two sections to reunite. movement, in educated started sections of some of the greater castes. From the nature of the case the caste system must have progressively extended The great majority of the people of India are of ages. a stock which originally was not Hindu at ancestors, in every case, must have been drawn into the system from without. The communities which stand outside or below caste are piecemeal brought into force is the higher civilisation to which they are thereby But such admitted. classes

79 It is still more striking when as a man of high work- nor present in its of human laws the of country the conditions of least not unre- the at is it of is easier for It There is, however, a the reunite circles, to its boundaries during the Their all. still going This process on. is The system. the attractive still more as a rule, are,

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

8o attracted to Christianity when at the critical period. At the present time, however, the country, growing disintegration of caste. economical situation. by the stress of modern life to seek for occupations out- side the traditional lines of caste. far enough, with the resulting mixture of men of gone all castes in one occupation, the probability is that the caste system, which rests, more than on anything else, on community of occupation, will dissolve away. Of the three classes named at the head of the chapter, Malas. the Malas may be considered of the two classes of out-castes (the Madigas being the the Telugu in other) called Pariahs, because they correspond to that class in the Tamil country. embrace both the classes of out-castes is This word is of British invention, and signifies the fifth caste, in reference to the traditional Hindu classification It was designed to spare their feelings, of four castes. the names in common use having generally an oppro- The meaning. brious Madigas to us lies in the fact that the vast that classes To give an idea of their numbers, we may draw derived. figures provided by the census on the total population of the Cuddapah and Kurnool districts, within which our work wholly lies, was rather over two Of these, 142,000 were Malas, and 137,000 were millions.

is presented to them it there are forces in in potency, which make for the Chief among these is the new More and more, persons are driven When this process has The Malas are one first. They sometimes country. are A name which often used to is ' Panchamas.' Malas and importance the of is from these two it Telugu bulk of Christians are The of 1901.

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(MALAS) COMMUNITY BAPANAKOTKUR OUT-CASTES

and bamboos, and are catechumens,

(KURNOOL DISTRICT).

They have their praver-house Jes built about nro

HOW COCOANUT PALMS GROW DISTRICT. THE KURNOOL

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Teacher and school children outside Bapanakotkur prayer house

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MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

Madigas, as less than against Christians at the same time numbered just under 53,000. Thus, roughly speaking, Malas and Madigas had been drawn the of Christian fold by one or other of the Missions. It has been mentioned above that classes represent the old recent times the Malas were still in a servile condition. The land, on which they work as farm labourers, is their regular source of subsistence. At the census quoted above, about lands of their own. twelve per cent, of the Malas were returned as having occupations not connected with the land. work labourers are as Women and children are ticular Sudra masters. pressed into the service such as weeding, and the children also for the tending Wages stiU very are of cattle. This was once the universal way better way for the labourer, for the amount is calculated with reference to a family's needs, wage cash wages tend whereas It must be remembered that the grain is all prices rise. ground, as Well as cooked in the home, by the women. In hard times the labourers get a good deal of support from the Sudra masters so long as the resources of the But the position latter hold out. dependence on the Sudras. version of Mala congregations to Christianity, the bad system are the points of refusing to employ them on the land, can cut off a great

8i The 33,000 Brahmans. at that time about one-sixth the into these out-caste Up to very serf population. of them own Very few Those who commonly attached par- to also for the lighter kinds of work, paid often grain. in and it is probably a ; of grain to remain stationary while is one of too great At the time of the con- Sudras, by The exposed.

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

82

part

of their livelihood. that in comparatively few cases has a congregation gone back on this ground alone. the Malas have But a regular handicraft own—that weaving. of castes as being a degrading occupation, of Sudra weavers. caste His handloom humble trade. is commonly set up in an open space in the The warp loom the village; itself As a rule the Mala weaver receives an order for house. a particular piece of cloth from a Sudra employer. latter supplies the cotton which has been spun by the women of the village. The weaver receives his pay for of the exceedingly primitive con- In the spite piece. ditions, the result is sometimes a truly artistic piece of Now, unhappily, the trade work. their hands by the importation cloth, which is said not to be so good, but is somewhat Small as the pay cheaper. if the Malas, and with them the Christians, lamentable lose the income they have made by been one has the preservation It independence, their stand-by on many occasions against the organised opposition of the higher castes. Mission made an inquiry the introducing improved handlooms, by which the workers might make higher profits. various parts in India, of these, were received. of contradictory, some being very

is creditable to the Malas It their of the out- not This to left is is a for there The Mala carries on a very of the simplest kind. is tiny

part

a occupies his of The is being taken out of foreign mill-made of will be for weaving it is, handicraft. their our Christians' of In 1909 the into possibility of The opinions persons of who had had experience They proved to be somewhat most others hopeful,

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MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

discouraging, and the Mission decided not matter further. probable, It is sidering the local conditions—the existence of Christian weavers possessed of some skill in the handicraft, the of a local market, and the lowness of wages presence and given some person, whether missionary or not, with direct them, technical skill to which would necessarily be not might be worked with success. The Malas have furnished by far the largest number of Christians to our Church. they were thus absorbed into the Mission. no intention nor expectation on the part missionaries the that Malas, would provide the whole congregation. and rightly led, by circumstances to this branch of the It was nothing less than the Church's duty to work. follow where events so plainly pointed the way. the results were remarkable. leaders, uneducated indeed, but men of character and were not wanting. talents, this community has produced education dreds of schoolmasters, besides a small band of catechists, and even clergy, while the whole body of congregations forms an army to attack a wider field. The Madigas are the second section of the out -castes. Their chief means of subsistence, as is the case with the is labour on the land, and their relation to the Malas, Sudra landowners is precisely the same. been said above of the Malas may be applied to these. Their handicraft particular is

83 to press the however, con- that, a scheme, the basis of charity but business, It was not by design that There was of the early in village after village, They were led, And From the very beginning Under the influence of several hun- Madigas. All that has shoemaking and other

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

84 kinds of work in leather. cally a degrading occupation, for it involves the handling of dead animals. Indeed, the animals that die in the are the perquisite village sometimes supposed that when they do enough, latter hasten the undoubted stigma on the Madigas is the fact that they sometimes eat the bodies of beasts found dead. Malas shrink from this and from contact with those that And the habit is a cause of trouble to the Church do it. dire poverty, the Madiga Christians for when, in their fall, as they sometimes do, into this horrible habit, this is added to other causes of estrangement from the Mala Christians. is some question as to whether the Madigas There are lower in the scale than where our Mission works, the heathen Madiga certainly more sunk in appears There can be Mala. His shoemaking is not a profitable trade at any time but in bad times numbers of people simply do without shoes, whereas the Mala has always some call for his trade. The Madigas, therefore, subservience to the Sudras than the Malas. The number of Madiga Christians in our Mission has At one time there was quite a little never been large. movement among the Madigas, and a certain number But there have been more defections in were received. proportion among them, and their congregations have not made the progress that the others have. number of Madiga congregations, most of which are in

This is regarded as intrinsi- the Madigas, and of it is not die fast An their end with poison. The ; In the districts the Malas. degradation than the heathen little doubt that he is worse off. ; in more kept complete are The total

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MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

the Kalasapad is only about twelve. district, many Madigas have the of American Baptist Mission, exclusively among them. to work seems has shown the great difficulty, in their condition, of rescuing them from heathen practices. As the Malas and Madigas' take important parts in the village worship, it will be desirable to say something It should be understood at once that, though about this. these people are roughly classed as Hindus, their Hindu- ism amounts to little more than acknowledgment of the supremacy of the Brahmans, and that the Sudras and all the lower castes—that is, almost the whole population all practical purposes follow the religion which was for in existence before the Aryans came into the country. deities of this religion are what are called village The They are strictly local deities. names and varying attributes in different regions. characteristics that distinguish them immediately from the deities of Hinduism as generally understood by that name, almost first, they are are, are commonly animals secondly, and thirdly, the sacerdotal functions are performed, not by Brahmans, but by persons important instances, by those of the lowest castes of all. Their shrines, when they have any, are rarely imposing Sometimes a stone structures. symbol of the village goddess is represented by a stone slab, rudely carved with an image, placed against a tree, or merely by an uncut and In the great acts of worship, a clay misshapen stone.

85 A great by absorbed been the some which parts in Experience present abject Village

^°''5"'P-

they have different ; The female invariably ; to them sacrificed ; of lower castes, and, in hut the for built is but frequently the deity ;

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

86 image of the goddess is usually made for the occasion. A common name for the village deity is ' Great which signifies Another is Ankalamma. Poleramma. looked upon as the guardians of the village against the innumerable evil spirits which are supposed to haunt They are, however, by no means beneficent precincts. beings, but simply concerned to their own advantage. for quite inscrutable reasons offended with At such times they send pestilences, such as cholera or plagues, and smaU-pox, cattle is at these times that the villagers hasten to propitiate of the goddess by the wrath with exception the times, annual the festivals, neglected. It may be remarked that although the system dates back, apparently, to a time before the dawn of history, themselves are the deities recent rise—in some cases traceable to human originals who lived a very few years ago. It now remains to give a very brief account of the rite in which both Malas and Madigas take a prominent When the decision has been made to perform the

part.

sacrifice by which the offended deity may be propitiated, the potter of the village has to prepare two clay images two goddesses the of This done, the idols are dressed in clothes provided by the merchants, and decorated with jewellery made by the gold and silver smiths.

' Peddamma,' Mother she called also is ' ; These deities are its domains keep their They easily and are for their villages. other misfortunes. It At aU other sacrifices. some fixed in of villages remains wholly almost goddess occasionally of exceedingly Poleramma Ankalamma. and A shrine is made of cloths

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in the centre of the village, and to it the idols are carried by the potter and the washerman that the two deities are the daughters of the potter and of the washerman. the daughters-in-law After these preliminaries, a male buffalo which has been provided by the Sudras and selected for The buffalo the chief sacrifice. lands of margosa leaves, which are hung round its neck, and with turmeric (a yellow stain). procession by the Malas and Madigas round the village The Malas lead the buffalo, the from house to house. Madigas beat tom-toms and dance and animal makes its progress, it is worshipped by the people, who at the same time give presents of grain to the Malas At and an Madigas. appointed the newly brought front in of is killed by a Madiga. There goddesses. it victim's head and one off the cuts head is placed before the goddess, the leg its mouth, and a lamp burning the is then placed on the head. sink into the ground and is covered up with earth. the body is given of rest who take their portions to there. The next ceremony takes place at the dead of night, and is of a peculiarly revolting kind. is formed, in which the Sudras join. leaves, soaked with the blood gosa One of the Malas, then, taking carried by the Malas. the of the buffalo liver

87 the saying being ; is brought is decorated with gar- It is then taken in As the sing. hour the buffalo is erected the shrine of The latter The of legs. its is fixed in fat of the buffalo The blood is allowed to The the Malas and Madigas, to eat them their houses and Another procession A basket of mar- of the buffalo, is his mouth and having in its

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88 entrails suspended round garland round his neck, forms the centre of the procession. He is worked up into a state of furious excitement, in which he is believed to be inspired by the goddess. the procession moves along, the people shout Ko ball ' (accept the sacrifice and excitement it moves through the whole village, until to the shrine of the goddesses in the it returns finally centre. A number of minor ceremonies are performed, which would be tedious to it the besides offerings also, such as fowls, goats, sheep, and buffaloes. animals are slain by the washermen, but the buffaloes always by the Madigas. goddesses, but the bodies are taken away to be consumed at home. in the afternoon Finally, sacrifice, two small wooden carts, which have been made by the carpenter, village The goddesses are placed on the carts, which are then dragged by the Madigas outside the village. preceded by a Madiga, who bears on his head the bead of the slain buffalo, on which the light As the procession advances, the Madigas beat tom-toms before the carts, and perform dances, some of which are The music and dancing are sup- of an indecent kind. posed to please the goddesses. little way beyond advanced a village lands, the idols are stripped of their ornaments and thrown away, the idea being that the anger of the

or hanging like a wrists his As ' Ko ball, !), and so with great noise Many other describe here. one, may be made, chief The smaller The heads are presented to the of the day following the brought the are to shrine. They are stUl burning. is When the procession has the boundary the of

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1; ASKI'T-MAKEKS AT WOKK

! KURNdOL

DISTRICT.

AK OUT-CASTE S ]IOME,

IJHONIC, KliRXOOL

DISTRICT.

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One of our older catechists

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MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

goddess will be transferred to the village in which she is The light on the buffalo's head is put out, and the left. head off by carried itself animal as his perquisite. The above is an attempt to describe a typical sacrifice in one of our villages. But ceremonies are often much more complicated than here described, and that innumerable found in different villages. It has been hinted that the village sacrificial system raises formidable difficulties in the way of our Christians. This is not because it possesses any attractions for them, it must be remembered that, though the sacrifice is for organised by the higher important parts of the ceremonies are relegated to the is that they are considered too degrading to out-castes be performed by others. raises are of an economical kind. play in the that sacrifices The status in the village. receive for their share in the shape of grain, cloth, and the flesh of the slaughtered animals, are to them, in their extreme poverty, of no small moment. makes a that difference The Sudras, angry at the defection often follows. Christians, sometimes, the them from employment, and make the subsistence even harder than usual. A partial solution of the problem is adopted by the As a rule, in any particular village Malas themselves. a member of a certain fixed family takes the chief part

89 the Madiga who slew the it must be noted that the to be variations are reason why the the castes, The difficulties that real it It is by the part they out-castes claim the their presents that they actual The loss of them But a further loss is felt. of exclude far as as possible, for a struggle

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go Such a man in the sacrifice. receives a more valuable perquisite than the rest. the Malas of a village commonly stands aloof and remains heathen. allowed to them to do what they would gladly do—that is, to set apart one member only to perform the sacrifices. The rule in our Mission But none if the whole family stands out the of it. Mission cannot interfere. trouble has arisen in the past from the baptism of Vetti The temptations are so great that members families. of these families almost always relapse into idolatry. Some account is due here of the mutual feeling be- tween these two sections of the out-castes. it may seem, these two classes hold themselves as rigidly aloof from each other as any two of the higher castes. They never intermarry they do not willingly draw water from This feeling attaches As is well known in India, high caste converts classes. drop their caste prejudices far more quickly and com- pletely than low caste. Mala and tians are not willing to mix socially. Ch^ris?^ of both of teachers tians. under the influence of the missionary. of the Christians do not yet go so no case has yet been known of a Christian of one stock marrying one of the other stock. The feeling between the two classes is not a personal one, but a community feeling, and individuals, to themselves, would be willing enough to go counter to

' Vetti,' and is called a When Vetti family the are baptised, It is not all of a family or is to baptise It may be added that much Strange as they will not eat together ; ; the same well. itself to the converts from both Thus Mala and Madiga Chris- There are instances eating together, classes especially But the mass And probably far. left if

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The writer came across a curious case which illus- it. trates the general attitude. to a distant part of the country where all the Christians were of Mala origin. Representing himself as of the same class, he managed to get taken on as a teacher by the Mission (not an Anglican Mission) which worked in that region, and was put in charge of a congregation of Mala His people received him as what he repre- Christians. be, and for some time ate with him. sented himself to Finding however, out, Madiga origin, they thenceforth At the same time they dared not complain nor publish the facts, for fear lest their fellow-Christians should hold aloof from them ! The policy of the Mission in the face of this division first place, not to interfere with purely social is, in the It cannot compel members of the two sections customs. to eat together in their own houses bring about marriages between them. by pressure to The teachers of the two sections, however, can be got to eat together at the missionary's house. second place, the Mission endeavours to give each con- gregation a teacher of its own class. the same are mixed in ignored in appointing the teacher given on either side of a teacher ministering acceptably to a mixed congregation. tinctions are obliterated, and the results are far-reaching. At the Holy Communion no difference is recognised be- tween one Christian and another. boarding-schools, the children of all classes are treated.

91 A Madiga Christian went by he was accident that of aloof from him. held ; nor would it be wise Then, in the Where both classes the mixture congregation, is ; and instances can be But in two spheres dis- all And in the Mission

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92 eating and matters in of respects, exactly alike. One cause of estrangement between the two classes Among the Hindus aU the castes needs special mention. below the Brahmans are divided into two parties, which right-hand the are called The two sections section. The higher castes of the Sudras, of very old standing. and all the Malas, are placed in the right-hand section the merchants, the rest of the Sudras, and the Madigas, in the left-hand section. the village magistrates are almost always derived belongs Consequently, whenever the feud to the second section. breaks out, the Malas are opposed by the village magi- strate and his tribe, and by the merchants—two of the most powerful elements of the viUage. hostilities has often been an absurdly trivial thing, such as the use by one party at a marriage of some ceremony or garment supposed to be the distinctive property of But by far the commonest thing that the other party. is a dance, performed by the Madigas leads to a riot against the Malas, and led to such bloody encounters that it has times past for a good many years it has been made wholly illegal throughout the Cuddapah infrequently performed. a expresses story in action. It Madigas over a Mala chief of former times. of immoral deeds, and the actions which accompany the is accompanied by music dance are obscene. It This dance has invariably a rousing barbarous nature.

drinking and other in aU, section and the left-hand have a feud traditional ; The class of Sudras from which The occasion of called the Chindu dance. In district, but still not is it The Chindu dance contains triumph the the of It is a story of a

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effect on the Malas, even the peculiar beating drums, with which it starts, serving violently to excite them. is sometimes performed before the idol at a It great festival, for the goddess is supposed to delight in Very often, when caste such spectacles. high, it is used to irritate the Malas. it on their own initiative, or the Sudras do The Mala Christians ought to have up to do it. connected with feelings all fortunately they regard as equally directed it them, and do feel it very keenly. is often used to provoke the Christians. therefore, such occasions the Madigas, backed by the Sudras, come to perform it in front of the Christian chapel. but opposition to it, on the part of another illegal act ; the Christians, leads sometimes to a charge in the courts of making a breach against themselves sometimes a period to of merchants and the hands the at of such times on the Christian responsibility is thrown at charge the teacher in of in innumerable instances the teachers have succeeded preventing admirably the in breaking out afresh. Leaving the Malas and Madigas, we have now Sudras, who occupy an important consider the In numbers they make up a considerable above them. portion of the population. landowners and most of the artisans. of Sudras are embraced a large number of castes. are ranked very variously, some being considered much

93 the of runs feeling Either the Madigas stir them left behind them, but un- it against The Chindu dance, On This is of the peace, the persecution in village Great Sudras. and congregation, village from feuds old foolish to Sudras. place They include most of the Under the head These

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MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

94 In some cases, probably, the higher better than others. rank was due to the caste occupation appearing cleaner Thus the shepherd stands high, while than in others. the fisherman, who takes other cases it is difficult to see any reason in the nature of things why some should be high and others low. does not appear on the surface why the list, and the tank-digger very low. be high in the as the higher castes are marked by the superior use they make of the services of critical period, when the Sudras were being that at a their more or admitted into caste, Brahmans the servience to thenceforth. The most important class of Sudras, from the Mission is the farmer point of view, They are important, in the reasons. their numbers and their character. most numerous of class sturdy of their tribe, and not without the appearance of having the makings of a next they the are place, occupation by carrying on their Indeed, were they to lead in the direction of Christianity, most of the other elements of society would be likely to Besides their follow. this, makes them important ; most cases they are the masters, our Christians are the They very are servants. Few of them their own sphere. there is a school in the village with a good master, even

But in is ranked low. life, It potter should But the Brahmans, possible is it less complete sub- rank determined their class, and this several for place, from first They are by far the the most physically Sudras, Then, in fine race in them. not independent, socially wiU the of others. our relation Christians to is explained above, for, as in ignorant things outside of literate, but when are

English original

MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS

if it is a school primarily for Christian or Mala children, the Sudras will generally send their boys to it their own homes they are very accessible to earnest and capable teachers. If it were asked why the Mission, during these many years, has not concentrated on work among the Sudras, the first answer must be that it has been led in another At the beginning there was no attempt to direction. select any class for the hearing of the Gospel. missionaries went impartially to very early came from the Mission has always had its hands full, except during the the period Evangelistic short of exclusively out-caste work. But the second answer to the question is that experience has fully justified this course, and increasingly tends to show that the true way to win is through the conversion of the low the higher castes In support of this we may point to the changed castes. of our mission the Sudras attitude of violent opposition of the earlier days has over and over again changed to an attitude of respectful attention. And this change has been found to be Mission has worked longest. the two experienced in are evangeUstic preaching to the Sudras, and appeal to those who have lived within the influence of a good Christian congregation. experience there can be no doubt at all that the Christian far more persuasive testimony to the is a congregation Gospel than the spoken word of the preacher. Mutyalapad district, where our Mission first began work

95 ; and in The first all, but the response that time the Since Malas. Band, with almost The districts. greatest where the Some of our Indian helpers methods, both public of of personal If we judge from their In the

English original

MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY

96 nearly sixty years ago, Sudras are now being definitely But the experience of the C.M.S. instructed for baptism. and the gone L.M.S. has real movement already a spheres spread from Christian congregations the Hence it is that, if the classes that are lords population. soil are the objective, we of the under the circumstances, the most direct possible to the And when those classes, with their sturdiness of end. character and security of then our Telugu Mission truly independent and indigenous Church.

far beyond In their ours. for some time has the Sudra to feel that our way is, livelihood, have been won, will be able to merge into a