Mahli

Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Arabic Armenian Azerbaijani Basque Belarusian Bulgarian Bengali Catalan Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Croatian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Filipino Finnish French Galician Georgian German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Indonesian Irish Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Khmer Korean Latvian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Marathi Nepali Norwegian Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swahili Swedish Tamil Telugu Thai Turkish Ukrainian Urdu Vietnamese Welsh Yiddish

This article was written in 1916 when conditions were different. Even in 1916 its contents related only to Central India and did not claim to be true of all of India. It has been archived for its historical value as well as for the insights it gives into British colonial writing about the various communities of India. Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly on their online archival encyclopædia only after its formal launch. See examples and a tutorial.

From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India

By R. V. Russell

Of The Indian Civil Service

Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces

Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner

Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.

NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.

Mahli

A small caste of labourers, palanquin- °^*'^*^ bearers and workers in bamboo belonging to Chota Nagpur. In 191 I about 300 Mahlis were returned from the Feudatory States in this tract. They are divided into five subcastes : the Bansphor-Mahli, who make baskets and do all kinds of bamboo-work ; the Pahar-Mahli, basket-makers and culti- vators ; the Sulunkhi, cultivators and labourers ; the Tanti who carry litters ; and the Mahli-Munda, who belong to Lohardaga. Sir H. Risley states that a comparison of the totemistic sections of the Mahlis given in the Appendix to his Tribes and Castes with those of the Santals seems to warrant the conjecture that the main body of the caste are merely a branch of the Santals.

Four or five septs, Hansda a wild goose, Hemron, Murmu the nilgai, Saren or Sarihin, and perhaps Tudu or Turu are common to the two tribes. The Mahlis are also closely connected with the Mundas. Seven septs of the main body of the Mahlis, Dumriar the wild fig, Gundli a kind of grain, Kerketa a bird, Mahukal a bird (long-tail), Tirki, Tunduar and Turu are also Munda septs ; and the three septs given of the Mahli-Munda sub- caste, Bhuktuar, Lang Chenre, and Sanga are all found ' This article consists of extracts caste in the Tribes and Castes of from Sir H. Risley's account of the Bengal.

among the Mundas ; while four septs, Hansda a wild goose, Induar a kind of eel, as well as Kerketa and Tirki, already mentioned, are common to the Mahlis and Turis, who are also recognised by Sir H. I'lisley as an offshoot of the Munda tribe with the same occupation as the Mahlis, of making baskets/ The Santrds and Mundas were no doubt originally one tribe, and it seems that the MahHs are derived from both of them, and have become a separate caste owing to their having settled in villages more or less of the open country, and worked as labourers, palanquin-bearers and bamboo-workers much in the same manner as the Turis. Probably they work for hire for Hindus, and hence their status may have fallen lower than that of the parent tribe, who remained in their own villages in the jungles.

Colonel Dalton notes "' that the gipsy Berias use Manjhi and Mahali as titles, and it is possible that some of the Mahlis may have joined the Beria community. Only a very few points from Sir H. Risley's account of 2. Social the caste need be recorded here, and for further details the customs. reader may be referred to his article in the Tribes and Castes of Bengal.

A bride-price of Rs. 5 is customary, but it varies according to the means of the parties. On the wedding day, before the usual procession starts to escort the bride- groom to the bride's house, he is formally married to a mango tree, while the bride goes through the same ceremony with a mahua. At the entrance to the bride's house the bridegroom, riding on the shoulders of some male relation and bearing on his head a vessel of water, is received by the bride's brother, equipped in similar fashion, and the two cavaliers sprinkle one another with water. At the wedding the bridegroom touches the bride's forehead five times with vermilion and presents her with an iron armlet.

The remarriage of widows and divorce are permitted. When a man divorces his wife he gives her a rupee and takes away the iron armlet which was given her at her wedding. The Mahlis will admit members of any higher caste into the community. The candidate for admission must pay a small sum to the caste headman, and give a ' See lists of exoganious septs of pendix to Tribes and Castes of Bengal. Mahli, Sandal, Munda and Puri in Ap- * Ethnolog}' oj Bengal, p. 326.

feast to the MahHs of the neighbourhood, at which he must eat a little of the leavings of food left by each guest on his leaf-plate. After this humiliating rite he could not, of course, be taken back into his own caste, and is bound to remain a Mahli.

Mahli

(From People of India/ National Series Volume VIII. Readers who wish to share additional information/ photographs may please send them as messages to the Facebook community, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be gratefully acknowledged in your name.)

Synonyms: Maheli, Mahili [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Maheli [Orissa] Groups/subgroups: Bansphor Mahili, Mahli Munda, Mah li Hor, Patar Mahli or Ghasi Mahli, Sulunkhi, Tanti [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Subcastes: Bansphor, Mahili, Mahili Munda, Patar Ma hili, Tame Mahili [H.H. Risley] Titles: Deshpradhan, Manjhi, Namahal, Pargona [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Mahoto, Manjhi [H.H. Risley] Surnames: Besra, Hansda, Karunamay, Mahli, Mandi, M urmu [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Baski, Besra, Chore, Dungri (pig), Hansda (bird), H ati, Hembrom, Katergach (jack fruit tree), Keshriar (tuber), Kisku, Mahali, Mandal, Mandi, Murhu, Shah, Soren, Tirki (b ull), Tudu [Orissa] Mahli [West Bengal] Exogamous units/clans (bangsa): Baske, Besra, Chore, Hansda, Hembrom, Khangar, Kisku, Mandi, Marangi, Murmu, Pihiri, Shah, Somah, Soren, Tudu [Orissa] Exogamous units/clans (gotar): Dungri (pig), Hansda (bird), Kathergach (jack fruit), Keshriyar (tuber), Tirki (bull) [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] "Sections: Chardhagia, Charhar (a tree), Dhilki, Du mriar or Dungri (wild fig), Hansda (wild goose), He mrom, Induar, Kartusa, Khangar, Khariar, Kundiar, Mandriar, Marri, Sanga, Taw, Tirki (bull) [H.H. Risley] Exogamous units/lineages: Baske, Besro, Hansda, Kami, Mandi, Murmu, Soren [Bihar and/or Jharkhand]