Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Dalit history: Malas, Madigas and the Adi-Andhra movement

The history of the Mala and Madiga communities and other Dalits of the Telugu lands from the 1860s to the 1950s: their place in village work and land, the Christian mass movements, the special schools opened after 1893, the Adi-Andhra and Adi-Hindu movements and their fight for a respectful name, the laws that opened wells, streets and temples, and the first Dalit writers in Telugu.

Faded old photograph of a broad sandy river bed between bushy banks, with water in the distance and two or three people standing on the sand.
Faded old photograph of a broad sandy river bed between bushy banks, with water in the distance and two or three people standing on the sand. · David Downie, The Lone Star: The History of the Telugu Mission of the American Baptist Missionary Union, Philadelphia, 1893 (opens in a new tab) · Public domain

The Malas and Madigas are the largest Dalit communities of the Telugu lands.12 They did much of the hardest work in the villages, but they were kept outside the villages and away from the common wells and temples.34 This page follows how, from the 1860s to the 1950s, they turned to new religions and schools, organised themselves, and won a respectful name and equal rights in law.567

About names and sources. Officials gave these communities many names: Panchama (“the fifth class”), “depressed classes”, “Harijan” and “Scheduled Castes”.837 The communities chose their own names, first Adi-Andhra and Adi-Hindu (“first people of Andhra”, “first Hindus”), and later Dalit.39 Most of the records were written by census officers, education officials and missionaries, who often wrote of them with pity or contempt.310 This page uses their facts and figures but not their judgements. For the older history of these communities, see Society & communities.

In the village

The Malas and Madigas were among the largest communities of the Telugu country. In 1921 the Madras census counted 1,493,129 Malas and 737,427 Madigas in the Presidency.1 In the Nizam’s Hyderabad State, the census of 1931 counted 2,473,230 people of the “depressed classes”, seventeen in every hundred of the people.3

Each community had its own work and its own leaders. The 1931 Hyderabad census described the Malas as village servants and field labourers, and the Madigas as tanners (leather-workers).2 Each had its own headman and its own priests.2 Both lived in hamlets at a distance from the main village.11

They were kept away from water. In many villages they could not use the wells and tanks of other castes.3 Where they shared a tank, they had to draw water near the sluice gate. Where a village drew water from a stream, they had to take theirs from a point far downstream.3 The same census noted that they were forbidden to enter temples, though they worshipped the Hindu gods and kept Hindu rites.4

Land and labour

Most Malas and Madigas owned no land. Some farmed the land of caste Hindus as tenants who could be sent away at any time. Others were farm labourers, paid in grain.2 In the slack season, whole families bound themselves to big landholders on any terms.4 The landlord lent them money for weddings and other needs, and so kept the family’s service from one generation to the next.4

Some families held small plots as a “service grant” in return for work for the whole village.4 By 1931 these plots were far too small to feed the growing families.4 The census writer admitted that neither the government nor any public body had made a serious effort to help them.4 Only eleven co-operative societies had been set up for them in the whole state, among them societies of shoe-makers, tanners and basket-weavers.4

Christian mass movements

From the 1860s, Malas and Madigas joined Christian churches in large numbers. According to the historian Y. Chinna Rao, the movement in the Church Missionary Society’s area began with a Mala headman, Pogulu Venkayya, baptised in 1859.512 Venkayya himself is said to have brought over seven hundred people of his community to baptism.12

Further south, the American Baptists worked from Ongole. Their first Madiga convert was Yerraguntla Periah of Tullakondapaud, a village about forty miles west of Ongole, baptised in 1866.1314 During the great famine of 1876–1878, thousands asked to be baptised.15 On 3 July 1878 the missionaries baptised 2,222 people in a single day, in the Gundlakamma river near Ongole.15 The mission’s historian noted in 1893 that the later converts, too, came almost all from the Madigas.16

The change was large. Chinna Rao records that by 1912 the Baptist mission had 61,687 members, almost all of them former Madigas.12 He also gives estimates for 1931: about one in five Dalits in West Godavari had become Christian, about one in three in Krishna, and more than half in Guntur.12 The 1921 Madras census noticed the same thing. It found fewer Malas in Guntur and Kurnool, and fewer Madigas in Kistna and Guntur, where the number of Christians had grown.1

Schools

Schools came slowly. The Madras government began to give special help to these communities only in 1892–93.17 A government order of 1 February 1893 told local boards to open schools in all large Dalit villages and suburbs.8 It gave free land for school buildings, higher grants for each Dalit pupil, night schools for working people and scholarships.8 Missionaries called this order the “Magna Charta” of their education.8

The numbers rose quickly. In five years the special schools grew from about 1,400 to 2,500, and their pupils from 23,000 to 41,000.17 In 1893–94 the Kistna district alone had 419 such schools.18 (See also Schools, colleges and universities.) But the 1907 report said that nearly all this work was done by missionaries and the government. Inspectors and missionaries complained that some village officers and big landholders tried to stop the schools.10

The Adi-Andhra movement

In the early 20th century, educated Dalits began to speak for themselves. The Adi-Andhra Mahasabha was formed in 1917.6 Its first president was Bhagya Reddy Varma of Hyderabad, who taught that the Dalits were descendants of the first people of the land.619 K. Purushotham writes that from 1917 the movement held a series of conferences and public meetings under his lead.20

The first demand was a respectful name. The 1921 Madras census noted that the “depressed classes” had begun to assert their equal rights, and that some wanted to be called Adi-Andhra.1 In 1922, on the advice of the Legislative Council, the Madras government removed the words Panchama and Pariah from its records. For Telugu people it used Adi-Andhra instead.3 Conferences followed in the districts. The fifth Adi-Andhra conference of Nellore district met at Nellore on 30 December 1925, and its resolutions were raised in the Madras Legislative Council.21 See also Reform, freedom & people’s movements.

The Adi-Hindus of Hyderabad

In Hyderabad, Bhagya Reddy Varma founded the Adi-Hindu Social Service League.6 The League asked the Nizam’s government to use the name Adi-Hindu, and the census of 1931 did so.3 The League also tried to change customs from within. Its volunteers held village meetings against the dedication of young girls to temple gods, and village councils agreed to end the custom. But the census noted that it had not yet died out.2

The League also worked against drink. In one case its volunteers bowed before labourers every evening and begged for the two annas they would have spent on liquor. They saved the money and gave it back later as gold, and the men stopped drinking.11 But the communities did not always agree. Over a quarrel about who could touch whom, the Arundhati Mahasabha stopped working with the League on schools.11

Wells, streets and temples

Laws came in the 1930s and 1940s. In Madras, the Congress ministry of C. Rajagopalachari passed the Removal of Civil Disabilities Act in 1938.7 It gave Dalits the right to use public streams, wells, tanks, roads and transport, and to hold public office.7 A temple entry act followed in 1939.7

In 1947 a new Madras act gave Dalits the right to enter any temple open to Hindus, and to worship there like everyone else.22 Another act of 1947 forbade hotels, shops, laundries and barbers to turn them away.22 In Hyderabad, the government passed a Harijan Temple Entry Regulation and a Harijan (Removal of Social Disabilities) Regulation in 1358 Fasli (1948–49).2324

Writers and journals

From the 1930s Dalits wrote their own story. Purushotham calls Bhagya Reddy Varma’s Etti Madiga (1932) the first Dalit short story in Telugu.25 It describes vetti, the forced unpaid labour that Madigas had to do in the villages.20 In 1935 a Dalit woman, Gottumukkala Mangayamma, published her story Ayyopapam.20

The poet Gurram Jashuva attacked the very idea of a “fifth caste” in his poems, above all Gabbilam (The Bat, 1941).19 Satyanarayana names other writers of the Adi-Andhra movement:192627

  • Kusuma Dharmanna (1896–1948), poet and speaker, who started a weekly called Jayabheri
  • Jala Rangaswamy, a teacher who wrote Antarani Vaarevaru? (Who are the untouchables?, 1930)
  • Jala Mangamma, his wife, whose Ryotu Pilla Satyanarayana calls the first Telugu Dalit novel
  • Boyi Bhimanna (born 1911), whose poems include Paleru (The farm servant, 1940)192627

Boyi Bhimanna called for unity between the Malas and the Madigas.20 Jala Mangamma set up hostels for Dalit girls between 1928 and 1931.28 The movement’s journals, such as Jayabheri, Adi-Andhra and Navajeevana, spread these ideas.27

After independence

The struggle went on after 1947. Satyanarayana lists attacks on Dalits in Andhra villages from 1950, when Dalits drew water from a common well, asked for higher wages, or took up land granted by the government.2930 He names the massacres at Karamchedu (1985) and Chunduru (1991) as the worst.29 The Dalit Mahasabha was formed in 1985, after six Dalits were killed in an attack on their quarter.9 By then, he writes, the Adi-Andhras had begun to call themselves Dalit.9

Where the sources disagree

When did the new names take hold? Satyanarayana writes that by the first decade of the 20th century the Dalits of Andhra refused names such as “outcaste” and “depressed classes”.28 But the 1921 Madras census found that none of the new names was yet in use outside Madras city and the Chingleput district. Elsewhere people still called themselves Panchama or by their caste names.1

When did Bhagya Reddy Varma die? Satyanarayana gives his years as 1888–1939.6 Purushotham gives them as 1888–1937.25

Were the Adi-Hindus Hindus? The 1931 Hyderabad census reports a quarrel in the press. The Adi-Dravida Educational League argued that the Dalits were the first people of the Deccan and had never belonged to the Vedic religion.4 Another group of Adi-Hindus replied that their gods, worship and customs were the same as those of caste Hindus, so they were Hindus.4

Footnotes

  1. Census of India, 1921, Vol. XIII: Madras, Part I, Report (1922), p. 158, the depressed classes (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  2. Census of India 1931, Vol. XXIII, Part I (1933), p. 257 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  3. Census of India 1931, Vol. XXIII: H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, Part I: Report (1933), p. 255, appendix “The Depressed Classes” (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  4. Census of India 1931, Vol. XXIII, Part I (1933), p. 258 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  5. Y. Chinna Rao, “Sub-Subaltern Histories and Missionary Sources”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. I, No. 1 (2006), p. 56 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  6. A. Satyanarayana, “Articulation of Self and the Other: Emergence of the Dalit Movement in Andhra Pradesh”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. I, No. 1 (2006), p. 70 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. B. S. Baliga, Madras District Gazetteers: Madurai (1960), p. 212 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  8. Report on Public Instruction in the Madras Presidency for 1896–97 (1897), p. 127, education of Panchamas (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. Satyanarayana, “Articulation of Self and the Other”, KJHS I (2006), p. 77 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Report on Public Instruction in the Madras Presidency for the quinquennium 1902–03 to 1906–07, Vol. I (1907), p. 54, bound in the same volume (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. Census of India 1931, Vol. XXIII, Part I (1933), p. 256 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  12. Chinna Rao, “Sub-Subaltern Histories”, KJHS I (2006), p. 57 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  13. David Downie, The Lone Star: The History of the Telugu Mission of the American Baptist Missionary Union (1893), p. 63 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. Downie, The Lone Star (1893), p. 79 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Downie, The Lone Star (1893), p. 111 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  16. Downie, The Lone Star (1893), p. 130 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. Government of Madras, G.O. No. 58, Educational, 31 January 1898, on the report for the quinquennium 1892–93 to 1896–97, p. 11, bound in the same volume (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  18. Report on Public Instruction in the Madras Presidency for 1893–94, p. 70, table of Panchama schools by district (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  19. Satyanarayana, “Articulation of Self and the Other”, KJHS I (2006), p. 71 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  20. K. Purushotham, “From Social Reform to Dandora: A Critical Perspective of Telugu Dalit Short Stories in Historical Outline”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. XV, No. 1 (2020), p. 6 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  21. Madras Legislative Council: Questions and Answers, 4 March 1926, p. 102, question 1518 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  22. Baliga, Madurai (1960), p. 213 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  23. Report on the Administration of the Hyderabad State (1950), p. 261, list of regulations of 1358 Fasli (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  24. Report on the Administration of the Hyderabad State (1950), p. 262 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  25. K. Purushotham, “From Social Reform to Dandora: A Critical Perspective of Telugu Dalit Short Stories in Historical Outline”, Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. XV, No. 1 (2020), p. 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  26. Satyanarayana, “Articulation of Self and the Other”, KJHS I (2006), p. 72 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  27. Satyanarayana, “Articulation of Self and the Other”, KJHS I (2006), p. 73 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  28. Satyanarayana, “Articulation of Self and the Other”, KJHS I (2006), p. 74 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  29. Satyanarayana, “Articulation of Self and the Other”, KJHS I (2006), p. 75 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩ ↩2

  30. Satyanarayana, “Articulation of Self and the Other”, KJHS I (2006), p. 76 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Cite-only; paraphrased. ↩

Photos

People

Gudavalli Ramabrahmam

Gudavalli Ramabrahmam (died by 1953) was a Telugu film producer and director who started the paper Prajamitra. His Sarathi Films made Mala Pilla (1938), on a Brahmin youth's love for a Dalit girl, and Raithu Bidda (1939), on landlords and tenants, which was banned. A Congressman, he also loved the folk arts and dreamed of filming the war of Palnadu.

References

Sources (10)
  1. Khan, Gulam Ahmad, Census of India 1931 vol.23 H.E.H. the Nizamʼs dominions (Hyderabad State); pt.1- Report (opens in a new tab), 1933, pp. 255–258. Public domain in India; paraphrased. [Public domain]
  2. G. T. Boag, Census of India, 1921, Vol. XIII: Madras, Part I, Report (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1922, pp. 158. [Public domain]
  3. Madras. Department of Public Instruction, Report on Public Instruction in the Madras Presidency for 1896-97 and for the Quinquennium 1892-93 to 1896-97 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1897, pp. 1896–97 report, p. 127; G.O. No. 58 of 1898, p. 11; 1902–07 report, p. 54. [Public domain]
  4. David Downie, The Lone Star: The History of the Telugu Mission of the American Baptist Missionary Union (opens in a new tab), American Baptist Publication Society, Philadelphia, 1893, pp. 63, 79, 111, 130. [Public domain]
  5. A. Satyanarayana (article); S. Srinath and A. Bobbili (eds.), Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. I, No. 1 (May 2006), incl. A. Satyanarayana, 'Articulation of Self and the Other: Emergence of the Dalit Movement in Andhra Pradesh', pp. 70 ff. (opens in a new tab), 2006, pp. 56–57, 70–77. Cite-only; paraphrased. Articles by Y. Chinna Rao and A. Satyanarayana. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  6. K. Purushotham (article); Thallapally Manohar (ed.), Kakatiya Journal of Historical Studies, Vol. XV, No. 1 (2020), incl. K. Purushotham, 'From Social Reform to Dandora: A Critical Perspective of Telugu Dalit Short Stories in Historical Outline', pp. 1-11 (opens in a new tab), 2020, pp. 1, 6. Cite-only; paraphrased. [All rights reserved (cited, not reproduced)]
  7. Madras. Department of Public Instruction, Report on Public Instruction in the Madras Presidency for 1893-94 (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1894, pp. 70. [Public domain]
  8. Tamil Nadu Legislative Council, Adi-Andhra Conference at Nellore (opens in a new tab), 1926, pp. 102. [Public domain]
  9. B. S. Baliga, Madras District Gazetteers: Madurai (opens in a new tab), Government of Madras, 1960, pp. 212–213. Public domain in India; paraphrased. [Public domain in India]
  10. Government of Hyderabad, Report on the Administration of Hyderabad State, September 1948 - March 1950 (opens in a new tab), Government of Hyderabad, 1950, pp. 261–262. Public domain in India. [Public domain in India]

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