Bagata people are one of the tribal ethnic groups of India, mainly concentrated in

Andhrapradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a States and union territories of India, state in the south-eastern Coastal India, coastal region of India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state by area covering ...

and

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 ...

. As per the Indian constitution, they are designated as

Scheduled Tribe The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

for affirmative action.

Population distribution

The Bagatas, are generally scattered in all districts of Odisha, Telangana, Andhrapradesh but are mainly concerned in

Vishakapatnam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museu ...

Vizianagaram Vizianagaram is a city and the headquarters of Vizianagaram district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is central Eastern Ghats, about west of the Bay of Bengal and north-northeast of Visakhapatnam. The city has a population of 228,02 ...

East Godavari East Godavari is a district in the Coastal Andhra region of Andhra Pradesh, India. Its district headquarters is at Rajahmundry. As of 2011 Census of India, census 2011, it became the most populous district of the state with a population of 5,151,54 ...

Rangareddy Ranga Reddy district ( R. R. district) is a district in the Indian state of Telangana. The district headquarters is located at Lakdikapool, Hyderabad. The district was named after the former deputy chief minister of the United Andhra Pradesh, ...

district of Andhra Pradesh (including

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 ...

); Sundargarh,

Mayurbhanj Mayurbhanj district is one of the 30 districts in Odisha state in eastern India. It is the largest district of Odisha by area. Its headquarters are at Baripada. Other major towns are Rairangpur, Karanjia and Udala. , it is the third-most-pop ...

Sambalpur Sambalpur () is the fifth largest city in the Indian State of Odisha. It is located on the banks of river Mahanadi, with a population of 335,761 (as per 2011 census). Prehistoric settlements have been recorded there. It is the home of the Sam ...

, Baleshwar district of Odisha.

Overview

Bagata is traditionally a Telugu ethnic fishermen tribe. They're alternatively written as Bhakta, Bhogata and Bhagata and in Andhrapradesh their local name is Kampu/ Kapu. In Andhrapradesh they use a dialect of the Telugu language,

Desia Odia , states=India , region=Odisha ( Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi) , ethnicity= Odias , speakers=227,313 , date=2011 census , familycolor=Indo-European , fam2= Indo-Iranian , fam3= Indo-Aryan , fam4= Eastern , fam5=Odia , scr ...

and in Odisha, they left Telugu and speak the regional language like

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

, Odia, Sadri, Laria, and

Kurmali Kurmali or Kudmali (ISO: Kuṛmāli) is an Indo-Aryan language classified as belonging to the Bihari group of languages spoken in eastern India. As a trade dialect, it is also known as Panchpargania (Bengali: পঞ্চপরগনিয়� ...

. Bagata people bear biological traits of Proto-Australoid tribes of the south and center India.

Social structure

The Bagatas of Andhrapradesh retain the original socio-cultural characteristics, whereas the Bagatas of Odisha undergone various socio-cultural purification process and are largely Hinduised. The Bagatas of Odisha are broadly divided into two divisions i.e.

Vaishnavites Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...

and

Saivites Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangin ...

according to their beliefs. The Bagata of Vaishnavas section is divided into totemic clans like Belhar (monkey), Samudia, Bamia, Tiruar (bird), Sarania (flute), Nag, Hatiar (elephant), Chumiar and Kuardar. They use their clan as a surname. However, some authors opined that there was no surname or subgroup system in them but after migration, they adopted those and now almost use surnames like other Hindu societies. Historically, they migrated to the Ranchi region of Chota Nagpur from Andhrapradesh before the 20th century and subsequently migrated to the northern district of Odisha. In 1976 the Bagata had the highest rate of indebtedness of any of the scheduled tribes of Andhra Pradesh.

Population distribution

Overview

Social structure

References

Further reading