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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, ACRONYMS AND DEFINITIONS

ABBREVATIONS:

AMS Andhra Maha Sabha

A.P Andhra Pradesh

APBCWA Andhra Pradesh Backward Classes Welfare Association

APCLC Andhra Pradesh Civil Liberties Committee

APCO Andhra Pradesh Cooperative Society

AIMDK All-India Dravida Munnetra Kazagam

APDMS Andhra Pradesh Dalit Maha Sabha

BAMCEF Backward and Minority Communities EmplOyees Federation

BC Backward Caste/Classes

BJP Bharatiya Janata Party

BSP Bahujan Sarnaj Party

CI-IPS Chakali Hakkula Porata Samithi

CPI Communist Party of India

CPI (M) Communist Party of India (Marxist)

CPI (ML) Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist)

DAFODAM Democratic Action Forum for Dalits and Minorities

DRDA District Rural Development Agency

DS4 Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangarsh Samithi (Struggle Committee of

the Oppressed Dalit Society).

DSS Dalit Sangarshana Samithi in Karnataka

DMK Dravida Munnetra Kazhagarn

GHPS Goudajana Hak.kula Porata Samithi


ITDA Integrated Tribal Development Agency

KCR Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao

KSP Kranthi Sangrama Parishad

MJF Mahajana Front (a regional political party in Andhra Pradesh)

MLA Member of Legislative Assembly

MPP Mandal Praja Parishad (the middle tier of the Pcinehyai Raj

system in Andhra Pradesh)

MPTC Mandal Parishad Teritorial Canstitutency

MRPS Madiga Reservation Porata Samithi (Struggle Committee for the

Madiga Reservations)

NSS Nava Sangarshana Samithi

NTR Nandamuri ‘Faraka Rama Rao

OBC Other Backward Caste

PDSU Progressive Democratic Student Union

PUCL People’s Union for Civil Liberties, the country’s largest civil

liberties organisation

PUDR People’s Union for Democratic Rights

PWG Peoples War Group (Naxalites/ Maoists)

RN Republican Party of India

RPS Reservation Porata Samithi

RSS Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

SC Scheduled Caste

SHRC State Human Rights Commission

SP Samajwadi Party

SSP Sama Sangrama Parishad


ST Scheduled Tribe

TDP Telugu Desam Party (a regional party)

TRS Telangana Rastra Sarnithi (a regional party)

UP Uttar Pradesh

VHP Vishva Hindu Parishad

ACRONYMS

Adivasi Aboriginal tribe/tribal’s

Arrack Distilled liquor, often artisanal

Bahujan Literally means majority

Beedi Country cigar

Dalam Armed squad

Deshrnukh Revenue collector turned landlord

DARAKAME Dalit Rachayii.ala Kalakaruala Medavula Aikya Vedika (Dalit

Writers. Artists and Intellectuals Forum)

Dora Landlord

Gadi Residence of landlord

Garibi hatao Poverty elimination

Gherao A protest in which workers prevent employees leaving a place of

work until demands are met

Gram Panchayat Village Panchayat the third tier of the Panchayat Raj system

Green Revolution The introduction of modern technological

inputs and high yielding varieties of paddy and rice in agriculture

in the late I 960s


Inam Gift

Jagirdar Holder of land grant given for services rendered to the Nizam

(Muslim)

Jajmani System of reciprocity of services and goods by different castes

Jati Caste or sub-caste: also used for nation

Jeetham Annual contract

Kisan Peasant

Kulak Rich peasant

Nizam The ruler of Hyderabad State

Paleru Farm servant

Palle Village or rural locality

Pettandar The dominant caste landlord/headman

Pettandari Economic and social dominance

Poramboku Government waste land

Rasta roko Road blockade - a form of protest

Ryot Cultivator

Sangham Association

Varna The four-fold hierarchical ordering of the Hindu society into

Brahmins. Kshatriyas. Vaisyas and Shudras: the untouchables’,

being outside the Hindu Varna system, are seen as constituting

the fifth or panchama Varna

Vetti Forced, unpaid labour

Wada locality

Zarnindar Large landowner, engaged by the British to pay land revenue

and receive rent, and abolished after Independence


DEFINITIONS:

Arya Samaj Activist Hindu ‘revival’ association founded 1875

Backward Castes Socially and economically depressed. Also referred to as Other

Backward Classes (OBCs) or Shudras

Bania Term used for members of castes associated with commerce,

trade or money lending

Bhakralok (lit) good people’ (Ben); Educated high – caste Bengali Hindus

devotion’ (Skt) spiritual traditions emphasizing

Bhakti Devotion’ (Skt) spiritual traditions emphasizing adoration of

personified Hindu deities

Brahman Members of A Hindu priestly caste: Top of the. Hierarchy order

in the fourfold Varna system

Chamar Caste title of north India’s major ‘untouchable’ population

alternative title Jatav now preferred

Chandala Low-status caste: alternative title Namasudra

Dalit The oppressed broken term for low Caste/untouchables

Dravidian Term for speakers of southern and “tribal” Indian languages;

regarded by race theorists as racially distinct from so-called

Aryans.

Dwija Twice-born members of a caste groups entitled to wear the suta

or sacred thread, i.e. Hindus who claim membership of the three

superior Varnas

Ezhava Caste title of low-status Malabar cultivators and toddy (palm-

wine) producers.
Hindutva Hindu-ness: term popularized since 1920s by campaigners

exalting Hinduism as India’s true national faith

Jat Title of north India’s major non-elite peasant caste

Jati birth, name’, order’ etc. with variants in , other vernaculars:

caste in the sence of a specific named ‘birth-group’ ( see

varnas).

Kamma Title of Telugu- speaking south Indian ‘peasant’ caste/upper

caste

Kumbi See patidar; western Indian peasant caste title

Kshatriya Second highest ‘order’ in the fourfold varnas system

Kurmi Caste title of non- elite ‘peasants in eastern Gangetic plain

Lingayat Caste title of Kannada -speaking ‘peasant’ population.

Lower castes those relatively lower in the caste system, including Dalits.

Mahar Title of a large ‘unclean’ labouring caste Maharashtra

Manu Mythical Hindu author of classical Hindu text propounding the

doctrine of Varna (qv) hierarchy

Maratha Caste title of superior ‘peasant’ in Maharashtra with traditions of

arms- bearing and privileged land rights

Nadar Caste title of Tamil entrepreneurial groups, adopted by low—

status tillers formerly known as Shanars (Toddy- tappers) ‘‘

Namasudra Caste title of low-status rural Bengalis known formerly as

Chandalas.

Naxalite Term first applied in late I960s to Maoist rural insurgents in

Naxalbari region (West Bengal).

Panchayat Village council


Maratha Peasant castes of Maharashtra

Pucca Solid, in reference to houses made of brick.

Purana (skt) Mythology of the Hindu gods

Scheduled Castes A list of socially deprived castes prepared by the British

Government in 1935. The term is also used in the Indian

constitution and various laws.

Scheduled tribes A list of indigenous tribal populations who are entitled to get the

same compensatory treatment as scheduled castes.

Shudra The lowest of the order defined in the fourfold varna. The sudras

were the slaves who were forced to serve the higher varnas.

They were divided into many castes later.

Untouchability The imposition of social disabilities on persons by reason of their

birth in certain castes

Untouchables Those at the bottom of or falling outside the caste system

Administrative parlance now employs the term “scheduled

castes” while rights activists and the population more generally

employ the term ‘Dalits.”

Upper castes Those occupying the first three major caste categories (thereby

excluding the backward castes) Those interviewed for this

thesis; however, often use the term to refer to all non-Dalit

Hindus.

.Vaisya third in the rank order of the fourfold varnas system: The modem

business community.
Varna Colour rank class (skt); the idealized fourfold scheme of ranked

human or orders as set out in ancient Hindu scriptures including

the Laws of Manu Vedas India’s most ancient classical religious

scriptures.

GLOSSARY OF CASTES

Adi-Andhra Literally means the original people of Andhra a term used by a

section of the dalits especially in coastal Andhra to describe

them.

Besta A Caste of traditional fisher folk

Boya Traditional hunter caste

Brahmin The Highest rank in the four-fold Varna hierarchy.

Chakali Clothes washing caste in A.P

Dudekula A backward class Muslim caste

Golla Celia Cattle breeder and backward peasant caste: Golla are

also called Yadavas

Gouda Toddy -tapper caste

Idiga Toddy-tapper caste in Rayalaseema

Kammari Blacksmith

Kamma A Dominant peasant caste in coastal Andhra

Kapu A dominant peasant caste in coastal Andhra

Komati Trader caste, also known as vaisya

Kshatriya Ruler or warrior Varna; the second Varna in the four-fold Hindu

Varna system

Kummari Potter caste


Kurma Shepherd and wool weaver caste

Madiga Untouchables leather worker caste

Mala Untouchables agrarian labour caste

Mangali Barber caste

Munnurukapu A peasant caste in Telangana

Mustrasi Traditional fisherfolk caste

Padmasali Cheneta / Weaver caste

Reddy Upper caste of Andhra Pradesh

Telaga A backward peasant caste

Uppara Stonecutter caste

Vadla Carpenter caste

Vaisya Trader caste

Velama A dominant caste of Telangana

Vishwa Brahrnana refers to a caste cluster comprising Kamsali (goldsmith),

Kanchari (brass smith), Kammari (black smith). Vadrangi

(carpenter) and Shilpi (sculptor)

Waddera Caste of traditional well-diggers and stone-cutter/suppliers

Yadava Cattle breeder and back ward peasant caste; Golla


Kuruma are called Yadavas.

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