Madiga

Clans and Kinship

Thurston (1909) found the Madigas divided into endogamous sub-divisions named after the way each sets out its offering to the gods at weddings: Gampa (in a basket), Ginna or Thel (on a tray or cup), Bhumi (on the floor), Chatla (in a winnowing basket), Sibbi (in a brass vessel) and Chadarapa (on a square marked on the ground). Each sub-division has many exogamous septs, named after objects, animals, plants and towns. In Mysore the census of 1901 found the Desabhaga and the other Madigas did not intermarry, the Desabhaga having six sections of their own. The village headman, the Pedda Madiga, settles disputes; Thurston records the office as hereditary, with two elected officers, the Dharmakartha and the Kulambantrothu, and Manohar's authors write that the eldest son succeeds. Marriage is within the community and often between cross-cousins, a man marrying his mother's brother's or his father's sister's daughter; in Telangana a son-in-law may come to live with his wife's parents when they have no son, a practice called illarikam (Manohar). How descent is reckoned is not stated in the sources opened for this page.

The examples Thurston (1909, vol. 4) gives from his own enquiries, in his order and spelling; he says each sub-division has many more. Spellings used by families today may differ.

In the Official Lists

• Scheduled Caste

  Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Puducherry

  Listed as: Madiga

  Census 2011 Table A-10 has an entry 'Madiga' in each of these states. The Andhra Pradesh table is for the state before Telangana was formed in 2014. Andhra Pradesh also lists 'Madiga Dasu, Mashteen' as a separate entry, and the long combined entries of Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan include the form 'Madig'.

Taken from the Census of India 2011 Table A-10 state tables, which name each Scheduled Caste as listed in 2011; amendments to the Scheduled Castes order since 2011 were not checked, and the list for Telangana was not opened. In Tamil Nadu the Madiga are one of seven communities grouped together as Arunthathiyar (Tamil Nadu Act 4 of 2009).

Checked on 2026-11-07 against the sources below. The lists are amended from time to time and can differ by district; for a certificate, the current order or the state's list is what counts.

Name and Origin

Madiga tradition traces the community to Jambava, also called Adi Jambuvadu or Jambavamuni, the ancestral sage of the Jamba Purana, the community's own caste purana. Several groups attached to the Madigas tell it in their own ways: the Nulakachandaiahs as caste gurus and keepers of genealogies, the Dakkalis from painted cloth scrolls, and the Chindus as a dance drama (Charsley; Manohar). In Karnataka the community has also called itself Matangi Makkalu, the children of Matangi (Thurston, citing Fleet). The Raju Commission of 1997 noted that some families had taken the names Jambavulu and Arundhatiyulu.

History

Thurston (1909) recorded the Madigas as belonging to the left-hand division of Telugu society and the Malas to the right-hand. By his time about one Madiga in ten was Christian, and in parts of Nellore district more than half. In 1994 the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti, known as the Madiga Dandora, began a campaign about the community's place among the Scheduled Castes of Andhra Pradesh (Balagopal). Manohar writes that it was the Dandora movement that led Madigas to name their community openly and without shame.

Faith and Worship

Manohar's authors name Ellamma as the community's principal goddess; Thurston names Matangi, or Mathamma, as its tutelary goddess and adds Kattamma, Dandumari and Muneswara. The Baindlas serve as priests of Ellamma, and Chindu troupes follow their Jambava play with one in which Yellamma is worshipped (Charsley). In Mysore, Thurston's source found Madigas who were Vaishnava, Shaiva and Shakta, with gurus at mathas at Kadave, Kodihalli, Kongarli, Nelamangala and Konkallu. Many Madiga families, especially in coastal Andhra, are Christian.

Deities named in the sources: Ellamma, Matangi

Customs

The Jamba Purana is performed for Madiga villages by the Chindus, who tour villages in which they hold hereditary rights and stage it as a dance drama called Gosangi Vesham (Charsley). The dappu, a frame drum, is played at weddings, festivals and funerals, and the campaign of the 1990s took its popular name, Dandora, from the drum-beat that once carried public announcements in a village. A newcomer who marries into the community gives a feast before being received into it (Manohar).

Stories and Legends