In some localities, during epidemics of small-pox or cholera, the Mādigas celebrate a festival in honour of Māriamma, for the expenses of which a general subscription is raised, to which all castes contribute. A booth is erected in a grove, or beneath a margosa or Strychnos Nux-vomica tree, within which a decorated pot (karagam) is placed on a platform. The pot is usually filled with water, and its mouth closed by a cocoanut. In front of the pot a screen is set up, and covered with a white cloth, on which rice, plantains, and cakes are placed, with a mass of flour, in which a cavity is scooped out to hold a lighted wick fed with ghī (clarified butter), or gingelly oil. A goat is sacrificed, and its head, with a flour-light on it, placed close to the pot. The food, which has been offered to the goddess, is distributed, On the last day of the festival, the pot is carried in procession through the village, and goats are sacrificed at the four cardinal points of the compass. The pot is deposited at a spot where three roads meet, and a goat, pumpkins, limes, flowers, etc., are offered to it. Everything,except the pot, is left on the spot.

The Mādigas sometimes call themselves Jāmbavas, and claim to be descended from Jāmbu or Adi Jāmbuvadu, who is perhaps the Jāmbuvan of the Rāmayana. Some Mādigas, called Sindhuvallu, go about acting scenes from the Mahābaratha and Rāmayana, or the story of Ankalamma. They also assert that they fell to their present low position as the result of a curse, and tell the following story. Kāmadhenu, the sacred cow of the Purānas, was yielding plenty of milk, which the Dēvas alone used. Vellamānu, a Mādiga boy, was anxious to taste the milk, but was advised by Adi Jāmbuvadu to abstain from it. He, however, secured some by stealth, and thought that the flesh would be sweeter still. Learning this, Kāmadhenu died. The Dēvas cut its carcase into four parts, of which they gave one to Adi Jāmbuvadu. But they wanted the cow brought back to life, and each brought his share of it for the purpose of reconstruction. But Vellamānu had cut a bit of the flesh, boiled it, and breathed on it, so that, when the animal was recalled to life, its chin sank, as the flesh thereof had been defiled. This led to the sinking of the Mādigas in the social scale. The following variant of this legend is given in the Mysore Census Report, 1891. “At a remote period, Jāmbava Rishi, a sage, was one day questioned by Isvara (Siva) why the former was habitually late at the Divine Court. The rishi replied that he had personally to attend to the wants of his children every day, which consequently made his attendance late: whereupon Isvara, pitying the children, gave the rishi a cow (Kāmadhenu), which instantaneously supplied their every want. Once upon a time, while Jāmbava was absent at Isvara’s Court, another rishi, named Sānkya, visited Jāmbava’s hermitage, where he was hospitably entertained by his son Yugamuni. While taking his meals, the cream that had been served was so savoury that the guest tried to induce Jāmbava’s son Yugamuni, to kill the cow and eat her flesh; and, in spite of the latter’s refusal, Sānkya killed the animal, and prevailed upon the others to partake of the meat. On his return from Isvara’s Court, Jāmbava found the inmates of his hermitage eating the sacred cow’s beef; and took both Sānkya and Yugamuni over to Isvara’s Court for judgment. Instead of entering, the two offenders remained outside, Sānkya rishi standing on the right side and Yugamuni on the left of the doorway. Isvara seems to have cursed them to become Chandalas or outcasts. Hence, Sānkya’s descendants are, from his having stood on the right side, designated right-hand caste or Holayas; whilst those who sprang from Yugamuni and his wife Mātangi are called left-hand caste or Mādigas.” The occupation of the latter is said also to be founded on the belief that, by making shoes for people, the sin their ancestors had committed by cow-killing would be expiated. This mode of vicariously atoning for deliberate sin has passed into a facetious proverb, ‘So and so has killed the cow in order to make shoes from the skin,’ indicating the utter worthlessness and insufficiency of the reparation.

The Mādigas claim to be the children of Mātangi. “There was,” Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,[12] “formerly a Mātanga dynasty in the Canarese country, and the Mādigas are believed by some to be descendants of people who were once a ruling race. Mātangi is a Sanskrit name for Kāli, and it is possible that the Mādigas once played an important part in the worship of the god. The employment of Chakkiliyans and Mādiga women in Shakti worship gives some colour to this supposition.” According to Fleet[13] “the Mātangas and the Katachchuris are mentioned in connection with Mangalisa, who was the younger brother and successor of Kirttivarma I, and whose reign commenced in Saka 489 (A.D. 567–8), and terminated in Saka 532 (A.D. 610–11). Of the Mātangas nothing is known, except the mention of them. But Mātanga means ‘a Chāndala, a man of the lowest caste, an outcast, a kirāta mountaineer, a barbarian’; and the Mādigas, i.e., the Mahāngs of this part of the country, usually call themselves Mātangimakkalu, i.e., the children of Mātangi or Durgā, who is their goddess. It is probable, therefore, that the Mātangas of this inscription were some aboriginal family of but little power, and not of sufficient importance to have left any record of themselves.” There are allusions to Mātangas in the Rāmayana, and in Kadambari, a Sanskrit work, the chieftain of the Cabaras is styled Mātanga. The tutelary deity of the Mādigas is Mathamma or Mātangi, who is said to be worshipped by the Kōmatis under the name of Kanyakāparamēswari. The relations between the Mādigas and Kōmatis are dealt with in the note on the latter caste. There is a legend to the effect that Mātangi was defeated by Parasu Rāma, and concealed herself from him under the tanning-pot in a Mādiga’s house. At the feast of Pongal, the Mādigas worship their tanning pots, as representing the goddess, with offerings of fowls and liquor. In addition to Mātangi, the Mādigas worship Kattamma, Kattappa, Dandumāri, Munēswara, and other deities. Some of their children are named after these deities, while others receive Muhammadan names in fulfilment of vows made to Masthan and other Pīrs.

When asked concerning their caste, the Mādigas always reply “Memu pedda inti vallamu,” i.e., we are of the big house. The following legend is current in the Cuddapah district concerning a pool in the Rayachoti taluk called Akkadēvatalakolam, or the pool of the holy sisters. “A thousand years ago, there lived near the pool a king, who ruled over all this part of the country. The king had as his commander-in-chief a Mādiga. This Mādiga made himself powerful and independent, and built himself a residence on a hill still called Mādiga Vanidoorgam. At last he revolted, and defeated the king. On entering the king’s palace, he found seven beautiful virgins, the king’s daughters, to all of whom he at once made overtures of marriage. They declined the honour, and, when the Mādiga wished to use force, they all jumped into this pool, and delivered their lives to the universal lord.”[14]

The following are some of the more important endogamous sub-divisions among the Mādigas:—

These sub-divisions are based on the way in which the members thereof offer food, etc., to their gods during marriages, e.g., a Gampa dhompti places it in a basket, a Bhūmi dhompti on the floor. Each sub-division possesses many exogamous septs, of which the following are examples:—

Belli, silver. Chinthala, tamarind. Chātla, winnowing basket. Dārāla, thread. Emme, buffalo. Gavala, cowry shells. Golkonda, a town. Jālam, slowness. Kambha, post. Kappala, frog. Kālahasti, a town. Kaththe, donkey. Kaththi, knife. Kudumala, cake. Kuncham, tassel. Midathala, locust. Mallela, or malli, jasmine. Nannūru, four hundred. Pothula, buffalo. Pasula, cow. Rāgi, Eleusine Coracana. Sīkili, broom. Thēla, scorpion.