Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Āsādi

by Edgar Thurston

Āsādi.—The Āsādis of the Bellary district are summed up, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as "a sub-caste of Māla or Holeya, which, in Bellary, are almost interchangeable terms. They are prostitutes and dancers." Among the Mādigas, men called Āsādi, who have undergone an initiation ceremony, go about, in company with the Mātangis (dedicated prostitutes), playing on an instrument called the chaudike, and singing the praises and reciting the story of Ellammā. (See Mādiga.)