The Kaikadi are a community found in the Indian state of
Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
. Traditionally they were nomadic, mainly wandering in the
Vidarbha
Vidarbha (Pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a Proposed states and union territories of India#Maharashtra, proposed state of central India, comprising th ...
region of the state, but most have now settled down. They face significant oppression and were once called a Criminal Tribe, and so were placed on the list of Denotified Tribes (DNTs) after independence. They speak
Kaikadi, a
Dravidian language
The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant i ...
closely related to
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
with significant Indo-Aryan admixture. Colonial scholars had a significant disdain for the community, with
Robert Vane Russell
Robert Vane Russell (8 August 1873 – 30 December 1915) was a British civil servant, known for his role as Superintendent of Ethnography for what was then the Central Provinces of British India, coordinating the production of publications deta ...
calling them "disreputable" and with "bad morals." Russell claimed their name derived from (meaning "hand") and (meaning "basket"), while the community derives its name from (a stand-in for a name) and (a type of twig). Russell recorded their occupation as basket-making.
Colonial scholars claimed the community arrived from
Telangana
Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...
and they were related to the
Yerukala.
The community has several endogamous septs: 9 recorded in Vidarbha. They also have a set of exogamous clans: '' Gaikwad'', ''Patke'', ''Mule'' and ''Mane.'' Marriage within the clan is forbidden, as is marriage outside a sept. Kaikadi men can't marry maternal aunt's daughter, although maternal uncle's children are allowed like in most of South India.
Their social status is considered very low. Their touch supposedly "polluted" communities above the Kunbi in the caste hierarchy and they are barred from entering village temples although they can live inside. They are classified as a Denotified Tribe for purposes of Reservation, although in much of Vidharbha they are classified as
Nagas,_mainly_on_Naga_Panchami.html" "title="Nāga.html" ;"title="Scheduled Castes and they are central cast come under obc class .(other backward class )he Kaikadis mainly worship Nāga">Nagas, mainly on Naga Panchami">Nag Panchami
Naga Panchami is a day of traditional worship of Nag (or Naja or Naga) or snakes (which are associated with the mythical Nāga beings) observed by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists throughout India, Nepal, and other countries where Hindu, Jain, and ...
, but also pay reverence to Khandoba. They practice the puberty function like other Tamils, Tamil communities.