Mallah

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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 It has been archived for its historical value as well as for the insights it gives into British colonial writing about the various communities of India.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.

Mallah

A small caste of boatmen and fishermen in the Jubbulporc and Narsinghpur Districts, which numbered about 5000 persons in 191 1. It is scarcely correct to designate the Mallahs as a distinct caste, as in both these Districts it appears from inquiry that the term is synonymous with Kewat.

Apparently, however, the Mallahs do form a separate endogamous group, and owing to many of them having adopted the profession of growing hemp, a crop which respectable Hindu castes usually refuse to cultivate, it is probable that they would not be allowed to intermarry with the Kewats of other Districts. In the United Provinces Mr. Crooke states that the Mallahs, though, as their Arabic name indicates, of recent origin, have matured into a definite social group, including a number of endogamous tribes.

The term Mallah has nothing to do with the Mulla or Muhammadan priest among the frontier tribes, but comes from an Arabic word meaning ' to be salt,' or, according to another derivation, ' to move the wings as a bird.' " The Mallahs of the Central Provinces are also, in spite of their Arabic name, a purely Hindu caste. In Narsinghpur they say that their original ancestor was one Bali or Baliram, who was a boatman and was so strong that he could carry his boat to the river and back under his armpit.

On one occasion he ferried Rama across the Ganges in Benares, and it is said ^ This article is based on papers Misra, Ethnographic clerk, by Mr. Shyamacharan, B.A., B. L., - Crooke's Tribes and Castes of the Pleader, Narsinghpur, and Pyare Lai N.W.P. and OuJh, art. Mallah.

that Rama gave him a horse to show his gratitude ; but BaHram was so ignorant that he placed the bridle on the horse's tail instead of the head. And from this act of Baliram's arose the custom of having the rudder of a boat at the stern instead of at the bow. The Mallahs in the Central Provinces appear from their family names to be immigrants from Bundelkhand.

Their customs resemble those of lower-class Hindus. Girls are usually married under the age of twelve years, and the remarriage of widows is permitted, while divorce may be effected in the presence of the panchdyat or caste committee by the husband and wife breaking a straw between them. They are scantily clothed and are generally poor. A proverb about them says : Jahdn betJicjt Malao Tahan luge alao, or, ' Where Mallahs sit, there is always a fire.' This refers to their custom of kindling fires on the river-bank to protect themselves from cold.

In Narsinghpur the Mallahs have found a profitable opening in the cultivation of hemp, a crop which other Hindu castes until recently tabooed on account probably of the dirty nature of the process of cleaning out the fibre and the pollution necessarily caused to the water-supply. They sow and cut hemp on Sundays and Wednesdays, which are regarded as auspicious days. They also grow melons, and will not enter a melon-field with their shoes on or allow a woman during her periodical impurity to approach it. The Mallahs are poor and illiterate, but rank with Dhlmars and Kewats, and Brahmans will take water from their hands.

Mallah

(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: Gonrhi, Mandal [Bihar and/or Jharkhand]

• Endogamous subtribes: Agarwal, Badhariya, Balliya, Bathawa, Bathma, Bharmare, Bhok, Bhontiya, Chain,

Chaudhariya, Dhar, Dhelphora, Gonriya, Goriya, Guri ya, Jalchhatri, Jarya, Kalwant, Kharautiya, Khas Ku lwant, Muriya, Nathu, Sonhar, Sorahiya, Tiyar, Turaiha [W. Crooke] Groups/subgroups: Dhoar, Guria, Khulwant, Pandubi, Parbati Kuria, Sauria, Sawria, Semari [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Subcastes: Bin, Chain or Chai, Chaini, Guriya, Kewat, Kulwant or Kulwat, Muria or Muriari, Pandubi, Su raya, Tiar, Bathawa or Badhariya [H.H. Risley] Titles: Baduria, Ghatwal [H.H. Risley] Surnames: Biswas, Choudhry, Das, Mandal, Parasar [B ihar and/or Jharkhand] Exogamous units/clans: Bairagi, Banaila, Bhingraj, Khajuraha, Richhitio, Richiniya [Madhya Pradesh and /or Chhattisgarh] Gotra: Kashyap [Bihar and/or Jharkhand]