Waddar is a caste of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

in India. Waddar, sometimes called Vodra, Odde, or Boyi, is a community from the

Deccan Plateau The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

whose traditional occupation is construction. Their major concentration is in

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 ...

, but there are also populations in northern

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

and

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 ...

. The God Of This Caste is Lord

Hanuman Hanuman (; sa, हनुमान, ), also called Anjaneya (), is a Hindu god and a divine '' vanara'' companion of the god Rama. Hanuman is one of the central characters of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He is an ardent devotee of Rama and on ...

There is no certain knowledge of their origins. Colonial scholars, including Edgar Thurston, believed the name ''Vodra'' derives from ''Odra-desha'', the old name for

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

, and thus they must have come from there. However the theory is only based on a speculation of the etymology of their name. In support of this, Thurston mentioned they had another language besides

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

that could be related to

Odia Odia, also spelled Oriya or Odiya, may refer to: * Odia people in Odisha, India * Odia language, an Indian language, belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family * Odia alphabet, a writing system used for the Odia languag ...

, but no other scholars have reported it. The Waddars may also originate from Telangana due to their speaking a dialect of Telugu. The Waddars have traditionally been migratory. They were placed under the

Criminal Tribes Act Since the 1870s, various pieces of colonial legislation in India during British rule were collectively called the Criminal Tribes Act (CTA), which criminalized entire communities by designating them as habitual criminals. Under these acts, ethni ...

by the British. Their first caste association was formed in Chitradurga, Karnataka in 1940. They were later classified as a Denotified Tribe in Maharashtra. They traditionally do most construction, especially stone-crushing, earth-digging and similar jobs. Nowadays they are classified as a Backward Class in Telangana and as a Scheduled Caste in Karnataka. In Karnataka, their population was c. 11 lakh, spread throughout the non-coastal districts of the state. The Waddar traditionally had no restrictions on eating and drinking and had few restrictions relating to marriage. Thurston claimed that the blessing of a woman married seven times at a wedding in the Waddar community was considered auspicious. In 2019, when large parts of

faced

droughts A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, the community were the predominant group employed in digging wells. They speak the

Waddar language Waddar, or Vadari, is a Dravidian language which belongs to the Telugu branch of its South-Central family, spoken among social caste of Waddars scattered over South India, especially in Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO 15919, ISO: , , also ...

, related to Telugu. The Marathi director Nagaraj Manjule is from this community.

References

{{Reflist Castes Maharashtra