A small cat, not one from an Indian state (8)
I believe the answer is:
assamese
'an indian state' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are adjectives, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'a small cat not one from' is the wordplay.
'small' becomes 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size).
'cat not' becomes 'sames' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'one from' becomes 'e' (I've seen this in other clues).
'a'+'s'+'sames'+'e'='ASSAMESE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for assamese that I've seen is " Indian".)