The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume IV Part 14

5. Marriage customs.

Marriage within the sept is prohibited and for three generations between persons related through females. Marriage is adult, but matches are arranged by the parents of the parties. At betrothal the elders of the caste must be regaled with _cheora_ or parched rice and liquor. A bride-price of Rs. 10 is paid, but a suitor who cannot afford this may do service to his father-in-law for one or two years in lieu of it. At the wedding the bridegroom puts a copper ring on the bride's finger and marks her forehead with vermilion. The couple walk seven times round the sacred post, and seven little heaps of rice and pieces of turmeric are arranged so that they may touch one of them with their big toes at each round. The bride's mother and seven other women place some rice in the skirts of their cloths and the bridegroom throws this over his shoulder. After this he picks up the rice and distributes it to all the women present, and the bride goes through the same ceremony. The rice is no doubt an emblem of fertility, and its presentation to the women may perhaps be expected to render them fertile.

6. Birth and funeral rites

On the birth of a child the navel-string is buried in front of the house. When a man is at the point of death they place a little cooked rice and curds in his mouth so that he may not go hungry to the other world, in view of the fact that he has probably eaten very little during his illness. Some cotton and rice are also placed near the head of the corpse in the grave so that he may have food and clothing in the next world. Mourning is observed for five days, and at the end of this period the mourners should have their hair cut, but if they cannot get it done on this day, the rite may be performed on the same day in the following year.

7. Religious dance

The tribe wors.h.i.+p Dulha Deo, the bridegroom G.o.d, and also make offerings to their ploughs at the time of eating the new rice and at the Holi and Dasahra festivals. They dance the _karma_ dance in the months of Asarh and Kunwar or at the beginning and end of the rains. When the time has come the Gaontia headman or the Baiga priest fetches a branch of the _karma_ tree from the forest and sets it up in his yard as a notice and invitation to the village. After sunset all the people, men, women and children, a.s.semble and dance round the tree, to the accompaniment of a drum known as Mandar. The dancing continues all night, and in the morning the host plucks up the branch of the _karma_ tree and consigns it to a stream, at the same time regaling the dancers with rice, pulse and a goat. This dance is a religious rite in honour of Karam Raja, and is believed to keep sickness from the village and bring it prosperity. The tribe eat flesh, but abstain from beef and pork. Girls are tattooed on arrival at p.u.b.erty with representations of the _tulsi_ or basil, four arrow-heads in the form of a cross, and the foot-ornament known as _pairi_.

Mal

_Mal, Male, Maler, Mal Paharia._ [150]--A tribe of the Rajmahal hills, who may be an isolated branch of the Savars. In 1911 about 1700 Mals were returned from the Chota Nagpur Feudatory States recently transferred to the Central Provinces. The customs of the Mals resemble those of the other hill tribes of Chota Nagpur. Sir H. Risley states that the average stature is low, the complexion dark and the figure short and st.u.r.dy. The following particulars are reproduced from Colonel Dalton's account of the tribe:

"The hill lads and la.s.ses are represented as forming very romantic attachments, exhibiting the spectacle of real lovers 'sighing like furnaces,' and the c.o.c.kney expression of 'keeping company'

is peculiarly applicable to their courts.h.i.+p. If separated only for an hour they are miserable, but there are apparently few obstacles to the enjoyment of each other's society, as they work together, go to market together, eat together, and sleep together! But if it be found that they have overstepped the prescribed limits of billing and cooing, the elders declare them to be out of the pale, and the blood of animals must be shed at their expense to wash away the indiscretion and obtain their readmission into society.

"On the day fixed for a marriage the bridegroom with his relations proceeds to the bride's father's house, where they are seated on cots and mats, and after a repast the bride's father takes his daughter's hand and places it in that of the bridegroom, and exhorts him to be loving and kind to the girl that he thus makes over to him. The groom then with the little finger of his right hand marks the girl on the forehead with vermilion, and then, linking the same finger with the little finger of her right hand, he leads her away to his own house.

"The G.o.d of hunting is called Autga, and at the close of every successful expedition a thank-offering is made to him. This is the favourite pastime, and one of the chief occupations of the Malers, and they have their game laws, which are strictly enforced. If a man, losing an animal which he has killed or wounded, seeks for a.s.sistance to find it, those who aid are ent.i.tled to one-half of the animal when found. Another person accidentally coming on dead or wounded game and appropriating it, is subjected to a severe fine. The Manjhi or headman of the village is ent.i.tled to a share of all game killed by any of his people. Any one who kills a hunting dog is fined twelve rupees. Certain parts of an animal are tabooed to females as food, and if they infringe this law Autga is offended and game becomes scarce. When the hunters are unsuccessful it is often a.s.sumed that this is the cause, and the augur never fails to point out the transgressing female, who must provide a propitiatory offering. The Malers use poisoned arrows, and when they kill game the flesh round the wound is cut off and thrown away as unfit for food. Cats are under the protection of the game laws, and a person found guilty of killing one is made to give a small quant.i.ty of salt to every child in the village.

"I nowhere find any description of the dances and songs of the Paharias. Mr. Atkinson found the Malers extremely reticent on the subject, and with difficulty elicited that they had a dancing-place in every village, but it is only when under the influence of G.o.d Bacchus that they indulge in the amus.e.m.e.nt. All accounts agree in ascribing to the Paharias an immoderate devotion to strong drink, and Buchanan tells us that when they are dancing a person goes round with a pitcher of the home-brew and, without disarranging the performers, who are probably linked together by circling or entwining arms, pours into the mouth of each, male and female, a refres.h.i.+ng and invigorating draught. The beverage is the universal _pachwai_, that is, fermented grain. The grain, either maize, rice or _janera_ (_Holcus sorghum_), is boiled and spread out on a mat to cool. It is then mixed with a ferment of vegetables called _takar_, and kept in a large earthen vessel for some days; warm water may at any time be mixed with it, and in a few hours it ferments and is ready for use."

When the attention of English officers was first drawn to them in 1770 the Males of the Rajmahal hills were a tribe of predatory freebooters, raiding and terrorising the plain country from the foot of the hills to the Ganges. It was Mr. Augustus Cleveland, Collector of Bhagalpur, who reduced them to order by entering into engagements with the chiefs for the prevention and punishment of offences among their own tribesmen, confirming them in their estates and jurisdiction, and enrolling a corps of Males, which became the Bhagalpur Hill Rangers, and was not disbanded till the Mutiny. Mr. Cleveland died at the age of 29, having successfully demonstrated the correct method of dealing with the wild forest tribes, and the Governor-General in Council erected a tomb and inscription to his memory, which was the original of that described by Mr. Kipling in _The Tomb of his Ancestors_, though the character of the first John Chinn in the story was copied from Outram. [151]

Mala

_Mala._--A low Telugu caste of labourers and cotton-weavers. They numbered nearly 14,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, belonging mainly to the Chanda, Nagpur, Jubbulpore, and Yeotmal Districts, and the Bastar State. The Marathas commonly call them Telugu Dhers, but they themselves prefer to be known as 'Telangi Sadar Bhoi,'

which sounds a more respectable designation. They are also known as Mannepuwar and Netkani. They are the Pariahs of the Telugu country, and are regarded as impure and degraded. They may be distinguished by their manner of tying the head-cloth more or less in a square shape, and by their loin-cloths, which are worn very loose and not knotted. Those who wors.h.i.+p Narsinghswami, the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu, are called Namaddar, while the followers of Mahadeo are known as Lingadars. The former paint their foreheads with vertical lines of sandal-paste, and the latter with horizontal ones. The Malas were formerly zealous partisans of the right-handed sect in Madras, and the description of this curious system of faction given by the Abbe Dubois more than a century ago may be reproduced: [152]

"Most castes belong either to the left-hand or right-hand faction. The former comprises the Vaishyas or trading cla.s.ses, the Panchalas or artisan cla.s.ses and some of the low Sudra castes. It also contains the lowest caste, viz. the Chaklas or leather-workers, who are looked upon as its chief support. To the right-hand faction belong most of the higher castes of Sudras. The Pariahs (Malas) are also its great support, as a proof of which they glory in the t.i.tle of _Valangai Maugattar_ or Friends of the Right Hand. In the disputes and conflicts which so often take place between the two factions it is always the Pariahs who make the most disturbance and do the most damage. The Brahmans, Rajas and several cla.s.ses of Sudras are content to remain neutral and take no part in these quarrels. The opposition between the two factions arises from certain exclusive privileges to which both lay claim. But as these alleged privileges are nowhere clearly defined and recognised, they result in confusion and uncertainty, and are with difficulty capable of settlement. When one faction trespa.s.ses on the so-called right of the other, tumults arise which spread gradually over large tracts of territory, afford opportunity for excesses of all kinds, and generally end in b.l.o.o.d.y conflicts. The Hindu, ordinarily so timid and gentle in all other circ.u.mstances of life, seems to change his nature completely on occasions like these. There is no danger that he will not brave in maintaining what he calls his rights, and rather than sacrifice a little of them he will expose himself without fear to the risk of losing his life. The rights and privileges for which the Hindus are ready to fight such sanguinary battles appear highly ridiculous, especially to a European. Perhaps the sole cause of the contest is the right to wear slippers or to ride through the streets in a palanquin or on horseback during marriage festivals. Sometimes it is the privilege of being escorted on certain occasions by armed retainers, sometimes that of having a trumpet sounded in front of a procession, or of being accompanied by native musicians at public ceremonies." The writer of the _Madras Census Report_ of 1871 states: [153] "It is curious that the females of two of the inferior castes should take different sides to their husbands in these disputes. The wives of the agricultural labourers side with the left hand, while their husbands help in fighting the battles of the right, and the shoemakers' wives also take the side opposed to their husbands. During these festival disturbances, the ladies who hold political views opposed to those of their husbands deny to the latter all the privileges of the connubial state." The same writer states that the right-hand castes claimed the prerogative of riding on horseback in processions, of appearing with standards bearing certain devices, and of erecting twelve pillars to sustain their marriage booths; while the left-hand castes might not have more than eleven pillars, nor use the same standards as the right. The quarrels arising out of these small differences of opinion were so frequent and serious in the seventeenth century that in the town of Madras it was found necessary to mark the respective boundaries of the right- and left-hand castes, and to forbid the right-hand castes in their processions from occupying the streets of the left hand and vice versa. These disturbances have gradually tended to disappear under the influence of education and good government, and no instance of them is known to have occurred in the Central Provinces. The division appears to have originated among the members of the Sakta sect or the wors.h.i.+ppers of Sakti as the female principle of life in nature. Dr. L. D. Barnett writes: [154]--"The followers of the sect are of two schools. The 'Walkers in the Right Way' (_Daks.h.i.+nachari_) pay a service of devotion to the deity in both male and female aspects, and except in their more p.r.o.nounced tendency to dwell upon the horrific aspects of the deity (as Kali, Durga, etc.), they differ little from ordinary Saivas and Vaishnavas. The 'Walkers in the Left Way' (_Vamachari_), on the other hand, concentrate their thought upon the G.o.dhead in its s.e.xually maternal aspect, and follow rites of senseless magic and--theoretically at least--promiscuous debauchery." As has been seen, the religious differences subsequently gave rise to political factions.

Mali

List of Paragraphs

1. _General notice of the caste, and its social position_.

2. _Caste legend_.

3. _Flowers offered to the G.o.ds_.

4. _Custom of wearing garlands_.

5. _Subcastes_.

6. _Marriage_.

7. _Widow-marriage, divorce and polygamy_.

8. _Disposal of the dead_.

9. _Religion_.

10. _Occupation_.

11. _Traits and characters_.

12. _Other functions of the Mali_.

13. _Physical appearance_.

1. General notice of the caste, and its social position

_Mali, Marar, Maral_. [155]--The functional caste of vegetable and flower-gardeners. The terms Mali and Marar appear to be used indifferently for the same caste, the former being more common in the west of the Province and the latter in the eastern Satpura Districts and the Chhattisgarh plain. In the Nerbudda valley and on the Vindhyan plateau the place of both Mali and Marar is taken by the Kachhi of Upper India. [156] Marar appears to be a Marathi name, the original term, as pointed out by Mr. Hira Lal, being Malal, or one who grows garden-crops in a field; but the caste is often called Mali in the Maratha country and Marar in the Hindi Districts. The word Mali is derived from the Sanskrit _mala_, a garland. In 1911 the Malis numbered nearly 360,000 persons in the present area of the Central Provinces, and 200,000 in Berar. A German writer remarks of the caste [157]

that: "It cannot be considered to be a very ancient one. Generally speaking, it may be said that flowers have scarcely a place in the Veda. Wreaths of flowers, of course, are used as decorations, but the separate flowers and their beauty are not yet appreciated. That lesson was first learned later by the Hindus when surrounded by another flora. Amongst the Homeric Greeks, too, in spite of their extensive gardening and different flowers, not a trace of horticulture is yet to be found." It seems probable that the first Malis were not included among the regular cultivators of the village but were a lower group permitted to take up the small waste plots of land adjoining the inhabited area and fertilised by its drainage, and the sandy stretches in the beds of rivers, on which they were able to raise the flowers required for offerings and such vegetables as were known. They still hold a lower rank than the ordinary cultivator. Sir D. Ibbetson writes [158] of the gardening castes: "The group now to be discussed very generally hold an inferior position among the agricultural community and seldom if ever occupy the position of the dominant tribe in any considerable tract of country. The cultivation of vegetables is looked upon as degrading by the agricultural cla.s.ses, why I know not, unless it be that night-soil is generally used for their fertilisation; and a Rajput would say: 'What! Do you take me for an Arain?' if anything was proposed which he considered derogatory." But since most Malis in the Central Provinces strenuously object to using night-soil as a manure the explanation that this practice has caused them to rank below the agricultural castes does not seem sufficient. And if the use of night-soil were the real circ.u.mstance which determined their social position, it seems certain that Brahmans would not take water from their hands as they do. Elsewhere Sir D. Ibbetson remarks: [159]

"The Malis and Sainis, like all vegetable growers, occupy a very inferior position among the agricultural castes; but of the two the Sainis are probably the higher, as they more often own land or even whole villages, and are less generally mere market-gardeners than are the Malis." Here is given what may perhaps be the true reason for the status of the Mali caste as a whole. Again Sir C. Elliot wrote in the _Hoshangabad Settlement Report_: "Garden crops are considered as a kind of fancy agriculture and the true cultivator, the Kisan, looks on them with contempt as little peddling matters; what stirs his ambition is a fine large wheat-field eighty or a hundred acres in extent, as flat as a billiard-table and as black as a Gond." Similarly Mr. Low [160] states that in Balaghat the Panwars, the princ.i.p.al agricultural caste, look down on the Marars as growers of petty crops like _sama_ and kutki. In Wardha the Dangris, a small caste of melon and vegetable growers, are an offshoot of the Kunbis; and they will take food from the Kunbis, though these will not accept it from them, their social status being thus distinctly lower than that of the parent caste. Again the Kohlis of Bhandara, who grow sugarcane with irrigation, are probably derived from an aboriginal tribe, the Kols, and, though they possess a number of villages, rank lower than the regular cultivating castes. It is also worth noting that they do not admit tenant-right in their villages among their own caste, and allot the sugarcane plots among the cultivators at pleasure. [161] In Nimar the Malis rank below the Kunbis and Gujars, the good agricultural castes, and it is said that they grow the crops which the cultivators proper do not care to grow. The Kachhis, the gardening caste of the northern Districts, have a very low status, markedly inferior to that of the Lodhis and Kurmis and little if any better than the menial Dhimars. Similarly, as will be seen later, the Marars themselves have customs pointing clearly to a non-Aryan origin. The Bhoyars of Betul, who grow sugarcane, are probably of mixed origin from Rajput fathers and mothers of the indigenous tribes; they eat fowls and are much addicted to liquor and rank below the cultivating castes. The explanation seems to be that the gardening castes are not considered as landholders, and have not therefore the position which attaches to the holding of land among all early agricultural peoples, and which in India consisted in the status of a const.i.tuent member of the village community. So far as ceremonial purity goes there is no difference between the Malis and the cultivating castes, as Brahmans will take water from both. It may be surmised that this privilege has been given to the Malis because they grow the flowers required for offerings to the G.o.ds, and sometimes officiate as village priests and temple servants; and their occupation, though not on a level with regular agriculture, is still respectable. But the fact that Brahmans will take water from them does not place the Malis on an equality with the cultivating castes, any more than it does the Nais (barbers) and Dhimars (watermen), the condemned menial servants of the cultivators, from whom Brahmans will also take water from motives of convenience.

2. Caste legend

The Malis have a Brahmanical legend of the usual type indicating that their hereditary calling was conferred and ratified by divine authority. [162] This is to the effect that the first Mali was a garland-maker attached to the household of Raja Kansa of Mathura. One day he met with Krishna, and, on being asked by him for a chaplet of flowers, at once gave it. On being told to fasten it with string, he, for want of any other, took off his sacred thread and tied it, on which Krishna most ungenerously rebuked him for his simplicity in parting with his _paita_, and announced that for the future his caste would be ranked among the Sudras.

The above story, combined with the derivation of Mali from _mala_, a garland, makes it a plausible hypothesis that the calling of the first Malis was to grow flowers for the adornment of the G.o.ds, and especially for making the garlands with which their images were and still are decorated. Thus the Malis were intimately connected with the G.o.ds and naturally became priests of the village temples, in which capacity they are often employed. Mr. Nesfield remarks of the Mali: [163] "To Hindus of all ranks, including even the Brahmans, he acts as a priest of Mahadeo in places where no Gosain is to be found, and lays the flower offerings on the _lingam_ by which the deity is symbolised. As the Mali is believed to have some influence with the G.o.d to whose temple he is attached, none objects to his appropriating the fee which is nominally presented to the G.o.d himself. In the wors.h.i.+p of those village G.o.dlings whom the Brahmans disdain to recognise and whom the Gosain is not permitted to honour the Mali is sometimes employed to present the offering. He is thus the recognised hereditary priest of the lower and more ignorant cla.s.ses of the population." In the Central Provinces Malis are commonly employed in the temples of Devi because goats are offered to the G.o.ddess and hence the wors.h.i.+p cannot be conducted by Brahmans. They also work as servants in Jain temples under the priest. They sweep the temple, clean the utensils, and do other menial business. This service, however, does not affect their religion and they continue to be Hindus.

His services in providing flowers for the G.o.ds would be remunerated by contributions of grain from the cultivators, the acceptance of which would place the Mali below them in the rank of a village menial, though higher than most of the cla.s.s owing to the purity of his occupation. His status was probably much the same as that of the Guraos or village priests of Mahadeo in the Maratha country. And though he has now become a cultivator, his position has not improved to the level of other cultivating castes for the reasons already given. It was probably the necessity of regularly watering his plants in order to obtain a longer and more constant supply of blooms which first taught the Mali the uses of irrigation.

3. Flowers offered to the G.o.ds

Flowers are _par excellence_ suited for the offerings and adornment of the G.o.ds, and many Hindus have rose or other plants in their houses whose flowers are destined to the household G.o.d. There is little reason to doubt that this was the purpose for which cultivated flowers were first grown. The marigold, lotus and champak are favourite religious flowers, while the _tulsi_ or basil is itself wors.h.i.+pped as the consort of Vishnu; in this case, however, the scent is perhaps the more valued feature. In many Hindu households all flowers brought into the house are offered to the household G.o.d before being put to any other use. A Brahman school-boy to whom I had given some flowers to copy in drawing said that his mother had offered them to the G.o.d Krishna before he used them. When faded or done with they should be consigned to the sacred element, water, in any stream or river. The statues of the G.o.ds are adorned with sculptured garlands or hold them in their hands. A similar state of things prevailed in cla.s.sical antiquity:

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?

To what green altar, O mysterious priest, Lead'st thou that heifer lowing at the skies, And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?