Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Vadugan
Vadugan. — At the census, 1891, 180,884 individuals were returned as Vadugan, which is described as meaning "a native of the northern or Telugu country, but in ordinary usage it refers to the Balijas. I find, however, that 56,380 Vadugars have returned their sub-division as Kammavar or Kammas, and that the term has been used to denote many Telugu castes. At the census, 1901, the number of people returning themselves as Vadugan dropped to 95,924, and the name is defined by the Census Superintendent as a "linguistic term meaning a Telugu man, wrongly returned as a caste name by Kammas, Kāpus and Balijas in the Tamil districts." In the Salem Manual, Vaduga is noted as including all who speak Telugu in the Tamil districts, e.g., Oddē, Bestha, etc.
It is recorded, in the Gazetteer of Malabar, that "of the same social standing as the Kammālans are the Vadugans (northerners), a makkattāyam caste of foreigners found in Palghat and the adjoining part of Waluvanad. They are divided into two exogamous classes, one of which is regarded as inferior to the other, and performs purificatory ceremonies for the caste. They cut their hair close all over the head, and have no kudumis (hair knot)."
It is noted by Mr. L. Moore*[1] that "Xavier, writing in 1542 to 1544, makes frequent references to men whom he calls Badages, who are said to have been collectors of royal taxes, and to have grievously oppressed Xavier's converts among the fishermen of Travancore.†[2] Dr. Caldwell, alluding to Xavier's letters, says*[3] that these Badages were no doubt Vadages or men from the North, and is of opinion that a Jesuit writer of the time who called them Nayars was mistaken, and that they were really Nayakans from Madura. I believe, however, that the Jesuit rightly called them Nayars, for I find that Father Organtino, writing in 1568, speaks of these Badages as people from Narasinga, a kingdom north of Madura, lying close to Bishnaghur. Bishnaghur is, of course, Vijayanagar, and the kingdom of Narasinga was the name frequently given by the Portuguese to Vijayanagar. There is a considerable amount of evidence to show that the Nayars of Malabar are closely connected by origin with the Nayakans of Vijayanagar." (See Nāyar.)