Christian missions in the Telugu country - Uecf.net

MALAS, MADIGAS, AND SUDRAS 85
the Kalasapad district, is only about twelve. A great
many of the Madigas have been absorbed by the
American Baptist Mission, which in some parts
seems to work exclusively among them. Experience
has shown the great difficulty, in their present abject
condition, of rescuing them from heathen practices.
As the Malas and Madigas' take important parts in Village
the village worship, it will be desirable to say something ^°''5"'P-
about this. It should be understood at once that, though
these people are roughly classed as Hindus, their Hindu-
ism amounts to little more than acknowledgment of the
supremacy of the Brahmans, and that the Sudras and all
the lower castes—that is, almost the whole population
for all practical purposes follow the religion which was
in existence before the Aryans came into the country.
The deities of this religion are what are called village
deities. They are strictly local ; they have different
names and varying attributes in different regions. The
characteristics that distinguish them immediately from
the deities of Hinduism as generally understood by that
name, are, first, they are almost invariably female ;
secondly, animals are commonly sacrificed to them ;
and thirdly, the sacerdotal functions are performed, not
by Brahmans, but by persons of lower castes, and, in
important instances, by those of the lowest castes of all.
Their shrines, when they have any, are rarely imposing
structures. Sometimes a stone hut is built for the
symbol of the village goddess ;
but frequently the deity
is represented by a stone slab, rudely carved with an
image, placed against a tree, or merely by an uncut and
misshapen stone. In the great acts of worship, a clay