Christian missions in the Telugu country - Uecf.net

Malas.
8o MISSIONS IN THE TELUGU COUNTRY
attracted to Christianity when it is presented to them
at the critical period.
At the present time, however, there are forces in
the country, growing in potency, which make for the
disintegration of caste. Chief among these is the new
economical situation. More and more, persons are driven
by the stress of modern life to seek for occupations out-
side the traditional lines of caste. When this process has
gone far enough, with the resulting mixture of men of
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,
the Malas may be considered first. The Malas are one
of the two classes of out-castes (the Madigas being the
other) in the Telugu country. They are sometimes
called Pariahs, because they correspond to that class in
the Tamil country. A name which is often used to
embrace both the classes of out-castes is ' Panchamas.'
This word is of British invention, and signifies the fifth
caste, in reference to the traditional Hindu classification
of four castes. It was designed to spare their feelings,
the names in common use having generally an oppro-
brious meaning. The importance of the Malas and
Madigas to us lies in the fact that it is from these two
classes that the vast bulk of Telugu Christians are
derived. To give an idea of their numbers, we may draw
on the figures provided by the census of 1901. The
total population of the Cuddapah and Kurnool districts,
within which our work wholly lies, was rather over two
millions. Of these, 142,000 were Malas, and 137,000 were