The Mádigas are a numerous caste whose traditional occupations are tanning and shoe-making. Some of them say they are the descendants of a saint or demi-god called Jámbha-muni and a woman called Puramási who disturbed the saint in his contemplation and became his wife.
They are subdivided into the occupational classes of Mádiga Dásaris (priests), Mádiga Páyikis (sweepers), the Kommalas (who blow horns) and the ordinary Mádigas who follow the traditional callings of tanning and shoe-making. These will not dine together or intermarry. The last of them is by far the most numerous. The Dásaris are considered socially the highest, and the Páyikis the lowest, of the sub-divisions.
Mádigas are much despised by other castes because they are leather-workers and eat beef and even carrion, and they take much the same low social position as the Málas. Their curious connection with the Kómatis has been mentioned in the account of that caste above. Their marriage and other ceremonies are very similar to those of the Málas. Their special caste goddess is Mátangi, who they say was defeated by Parasu Ráma and concealed herself from him under the 'tanning-pot in a Mádiga's house. At Pongal they worship their tanning-pots, as representing the goddess, with offerings of fowls and liquor.
The begging castes specially attached to the Mádigas are the Dekkalas, Mástidis and Tappitas or Bágavatas. Of these the Dekkalas are musicians who sing the praises of their patron's ancestors, the Mástidis are gymnasts, and the Tappitas are the same as the Mádiga Bógams, and are the dancers and prostitutes of the caste.
The Kóyas are a caste of jungle men found in the country on either side of the Gódávari from the point where the Indrávati joins it down to the apex of the delta. They occur as far south as Kammamet in the Nizam's Dominions, and on the north they stretch far into the Bastar State. The Rev. J. Cain of Dummagúdem, who has lived among them for thirty years and published several accounts of their ways, and who has been kind enough to supply information embodied below, estimates that they form one-fourth of the inhabitants of Bhadráchalam taluk, but only a small portion of the population of Chódavaram. They are also common in Bastar and theMalkanagiri taluk of Vizagapatam. In the case of a tribe spread over such a large extent of such wild country it is difficult to be sure that statements regarding customs are universally applicable. What follows applies primarily to the Kóyas of Pólavaram and Bhadráchalam taluks and the
