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[edit] Malo

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A sub-section of the Kautsasa section of Utkal Brahmans.

[edit] Notes

This caste is often designated Jalo, or Jaliya, that is, persons who use a net (Jal); or Jalwah, dwellers on the water.

The Malo, according to Buchanan, came originally from Western India, where they are still numerous. The families who observed the innovations of Vyasa were called Kaibarttas, while the adherents of the old tribal customs were known as Malo. According to Menu, however, the "Jhalla" and "Malla" were the offspring of an outcast Kshatriya.1 Ward,2 agains describes them as the descendants of a Magadha, or bard, and a female Sudra. Buchanan,3 on the other hand, distinguishes the "Jhalo" from the Malo, classing the former with the Kaibartta, and connecting the latter with the Don and Patni. In Rangpur the Malo is generally called Malo-Patni, while in Dacca the Malo and Jalo are synonymous terms for an impure fisher caste.

The caste Purohit is a Patit Brahman, while the majority being Vaishnavas in creed, their Guru is a Gosain. Though reckoned unclean, the Sudra Napit and Dhoba usually work for them. All belong to one of two gotras, Aliman and Udadhi, the members of which will eat and drink together, but never intermarry.

The Udadhi gotra is chiefly found along the Lakhya and Meghna, on the outskirts of the Ballali country, the Malos belonging to it being less deeply tinged by Hinduism than their brethren of the Aliman gotra. The only titles met with among Malos are Manjhi, Patr, and Bepari; while among other fisher castes no honorary distinctions exist. Under the Muhammadan government they served as boatmen, Chaprasis, mace-bearers ('Asa-bardar), and staff-bearers (Sonte-bardar) in processions. They were also employed in conveying treasure from Dacca to Murshidabad while a tradition still survives that early in this century two of their number became great favourites with Nawab Nacrat Jang, who presented them with golden spinning wheels for their wives' use. The Malos, therefore extol the golden age that has passed, and inveigh against the equality and degeneracy of the present.

Malos generally use a shorter Jalka boat than the Tiyars, but when they fish with the long Uthar net they fasten two boats stem to stern. Like the Kaibartta, the Malo is often a cultivator, and in Bhowal he has been obliged by changes in the course and depth of the rivers to relinquish his caste trade. Malos

1 Chap. x, 22.

2 Vol. i, 140.

3 Vol. xxi, 531.

manufacture twine, but not rope, and traffic in grain, while those who have saved a little money keep grocers' shops, or become fishmongers.

The Malos observe the same close time as the Kaibarttas and Tiyars; while Khala-Kumari is worshipped in Sravan (July-August), offerings are made to Bara-Buri in fulfilment of vows, and lights are launched on the river in honour of Khwajah Khizr.

Malo women sell fish in the bazars, but in some places this practice is considered derogatory to their gentility, and is prohibited. Money is always paid for a bride, and of late years the price has risen to one hundred rupees. The bride's father always presents his daughter with a silken, or other fine, garment. After the birth of a child a feast is given by the rich to the caste Brahman, and offerings made at a shrine called Dhaka Isvari, sacred to Durga. As is general among the unclean tribes the Sraddha is held on the thirtieth day after death.