# Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Bagata

​Bagata.—The Bagatas, Bhaktās, or Baktas are a class of Telugu fresh-water fishermen, who are said to be very expert at catching fish with a long spear. It is noted, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, that "on the Dasara day they worship the fishing baskets, and also (for some obscure reason) a kind of trident." The trident is probably the fishing spear. Some of the Bagatas are hill cultivators in the Agency tracts of Vizagapatam. They account for their name by the tradition that they served with great devotion (bhakti) the former rulers of Golgonda and Mādugula, who made grants of land to them in mokhāsa tenure. Some of them are heads of hill villages. The head of a single village is called a Padāl, and it may be noted that Padāla occurs as an exogamous sept of the Kāpus, of which caste it has been suggested that the Bagatas are an offshoot. The overlord of a number of Padāls styles himself Nāyak or Rāju, and a Mokhāsadar has the title of Dora. It is recorded, in the Census Report, 1871, that "in the low country the Bhaktās consider themselves to take the rank of soldiery, and rather disdain the occupation of ryots (cultivators). Here, however (in hill Mādugulu in the Vizagapatam district), necessity has divested them of such prejudices, and they are compelled to delve for their daily bread. They generally, nevertheless, manage to get the Kāpus to work for them, for they make poor farmers, and are unskilled in husbandry." ​It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that "Matsya gundam (fish pool) is a curious pool on the Machēru (fish river) near the village of Matam, close under the great Yendrika hill, 5,188 feet above the sea. A barrier of rocks runs right across the river there, and the stream plunges into a great hole and vanishes beneath this, reappearing again about a hundred yards lower down. Just where it emerges from under the barrier, it forms a pool, which is crowded with mahseer of all sizes. These are wonderfully tame, the bigger ones feeding fearlessly from one's hand, and even allowing their backs to be stroked. They are protected by the Mādgole zamindars — who on several grounds venerate all fish — and by superstitious fears. Once, goes the story, a Brinjāri caught one and turned it into curry, whereon the king of the fish solemnly cursed him, and he and all his pack-bullocks were turned into rocks, which may be seen there till this day. At Sivarātri, a festival occurs at the little thatched shrine near by, the priest at which is a Bagata, and part of the ritual consists in feeding the sacred fish.
"In 1901, certain envious Bagatas looted one of the villages of the Konda Mālas or hill Paraiyans, a pushing set of traders, who are rapidly acquiring wealth and exalted notions, on the ground that they were becoming unduly arrogant. The immediate cause of the trouble was the fact that at a cockfight the Mālas' birds had defeated the Bagatas'."
In a note on the Bagatas, Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao writes that the caste is divided into exogamous septs or intipērulu, some of which occur also among the Kāpus, Telagas, and Vantaris. Girls are married either before or after puberty, and the custom, called mēnarikam, which renders it a man's duty to marry his maternal ​uncle's daughter, is the general rule. An Oriya or Telugu Brāhman officiates at marriages, and the bride is presented with jewelry as a substitute for the bride-price (vōli) in money. It is noted, in the Census Report, 1901, that, at a wedding, the bridegroom is struck by his brother-in-law, who is then presented with a pair of new cloths. The Bagatas are both Vaishnavites and Saivites, and the former get themselves branded on the arm by a Vaishnava guru, who lives in the Godāvari district. The Vaishnavites burn their dead, and the Saivites bury them in the customary sitting attitude. Sātānis officiate for the former, and Jangams for the latter. Both sections perform the chinna and pedda rōzu (big and little day) death ceremonies. The hill Bagatas observe the Itiga Ponduga festival, which is celebrated by the hill classes in Vizagapatam.