The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 4

“Most castes belong either to the left-hand or right-hand faction. The former comprises the Vaishyas or trading classes, the Panchālas or artisan classes and some of the low Sūdra 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 Sūdras. The Pariahs (Mālas) are also its great support, as a proof of which they glory in the title 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 Brāhmans, Rājas and several classes of Sūdras 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 trespasses 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 bloody conflicts. The Hindu, ordinarily so timid and gentle in all other circumstances 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 Sākta sect or the worshippers 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’ (Dakshināchāri) pay a service of devotion to the deity in both male and female aspects, and except in their more pronounced tendency to dwell upon the horrific aspects of the deity (as Kāli, Durga, etc.), they differ little from ordinary Saivas and Vaishnavas. The ‘Walkers in the Left Way’ (Vāmachāri), on the other hand, concentrate their thought upon the godhead in its sexually 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.

Māli

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

Māli, Marār, Marāl.155—The functional caste of vegetable and flower-gardeners. The terms Māli and Marār 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 Satpūra Districts and the Chhattīsgarh plain. In the Nerbudda valley and on the Vindhyan plateau the place of both Māli and Marār is taken by the Kāchhi of Upper India.156 Marār appears to be a Marāthi name, the original term, as pointed out by Mr. Hira Lāl, being Malāl, or one who grows garden-crops in a field; but the caste is often called Māli in the Marātha country and Marār in the Hindi Districts. The word Māli is derived from the Sanskrit māla, a garland. In 1911 the Mālis numbered nearly 360,000 persons in the present area of the Central Provinces, and 200,000 in Berār. A German writer remarks of the caste157 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 Mālis 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 writes158 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 classes, why I know not, unless it be that night-soil is generally used for their fertilisation; and a Rājpūt would say: ‘What! Do you take me for an Arāin?’ if anything was proposed which he considered derogatory.” But since most Mālis 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 circumstance which determined their social position, it seems certain that Brāhmans would not take water from their hands as they do. Elsewhere Sir D. Ibbetson remarks:159 “The Mālis 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 Mālis.” Here is given what may perhaps be the true reason for the status of the Māli caste as a whole. Again Sir C. Elliot wrote in the Hoshangābād Settlement Report: “Garden crops are considered as a kind of fancy agriculture and the true cultivator, the Kisān, 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. Low160 states that in Bālāghāt the Panwārs, the principal agricultural caste, look down on the Marārs as growers of petty crops like sama and kutki. In Wardha the Dāngris, 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 Bhandāra, 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 Nimār the Mālis rank below the Kunbis and Gūjars, the good agricultural castes, and it is said that they grow the crops which the cultivators proper do not care to grow. The Kāchhis, 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 Dhīmars. Similarly, as will be seen later, the Marārs themselves have customs pointing clearly to a non-Aryan origin. The Bhoyars of Betūl, who grow sugarcane, are probably of mixed origin from Rājpūt 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 constituent member of the village community. So far as ceremonial purity goes there is no difference between the Mālis and the cultivating castes, as Brāhmans will take water from both. It may be surmised that this privilege has been given to the Mālis because they grow the flowers required for offerings to the gods, 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 Brāhmans will take water from them does not place the Mālis on an equality with the cultivating castes, any more than it does the Nais (barbers) and Dhīmars (watermen), the condemned menial servants of the cultivators, from whom Brāhmans will also take water from motives of convenience.

2. Caste legend

The Mālis have a Brāhmanical 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 Māli was a garland-maker attached to the household of Rāja Kānsa 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 paīta, and announced that for the future his caste would be ranked among the Sūdras.

The above story, combined with the derivation of Māli from māla, a garland, makes it a plausible hypothesis that the calling of the first Mālis was to grow flowers for the adornment of the gods, and especially for making the garlands with which their images were and still are decorated. Thus the Mālis were intimately connected with the gods and naturally became priests of the village temples, in which capacity they are often employed. Mr. Nesfield remarks of the Māli:163 “To Hindus of all ranks, including even the Brāhmans, he acts as a priest of Mahādeo 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 Māli is believed to have some influence with the god to whose temple he is attached, none objects to his appropriating the fee which is nominally presented to the god himself. In the worship of those village godlings whom the Brāhmans disdain to recognise and whom the Gosain is not permitted to honour the Māli is sometimes employed to present the offering. He is thus the recognised hereditary priest of the lower and more ignorant classes of the population.” In the Central Provinces Mālis are commonly employed in the temples of Devi because goats are offered to the goddess and hence the worship cannot be conducted by Brāhmans. 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 gods would be remunerated by contributions of grain from the cultivators, the acceptance of which would place the Māli below them in the rank of a village menial, though higher than most of the class owing to the purity of his occupation. His status was probably much the same as that of the Guraos or village priests of Mahādeo in the Marātha 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 Māli the uses of irrigation.

3. Flowers offered to the gods

Flowers are par excellence suited for the offerings and adornment of the gods, and many Hindus have rose or other plants in their houses whose flowers are destined to the household god. 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 worshipped 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 god before being put to any other use. A Brāhman school-boy to whom I had given some flowers to copy in drawing said that his mother had offered them to the god 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 gods are adorned with sculptured garlands or hold them in their hands. A similar state of things prevailed in classical 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?

And,

Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none,Nor altar decked with flowers,Nor virgin choir to make delicious moanUpon the midnight hours.

M. Fustel de Coulanges describes the custom of wearing crowns or garlands of flowers in ancient Rome and Greece as follows: “It is clear that the communal feasts were religious ceremonies. Each guest had a crown on the head; it was an ancient custom to crown oneself with leaves or flowers for any solemn religious act.” “The more a man is adorned with flowers,” they said, “the more pleasing he is to the gods; but they turn away from him who wears no crown at his sacrifice.” And again, ‘A crown is the auspicious herald which announces a prayer to the gods.’164

Among the Persians the flowers themselves are worshipped:165 “When a pure Iranian sauntered through (the Victoria Gardens in Bombay) … he would stand awhile and meditate over every flower in his path, and always as in a vision; and when at last the vision was fulfilled, and the ideal flower found, he would spread his mat or carpet before it, and sit before it to the going down of the sun, when he would arise and pray before it, and then refold his mat or carpet and go home; and the next night, and night after night, until that bright particular flower faded away, he would return to it, bringing his friends with him in ever-increasing numbers, and sit and sing and play the guitar or lute before it—and anon they all would arise together and pray before it; and after prayers, still sit on, sipping sherbet and talking the most hilarious and shocking scandal, late into the moonlight.”

4. Custom of wearing garlands

From the custom of placing garlands on the gods as a mark of honour has no doubt arisen that of garlanding guests. This is not confined to India but obtained in Rome and probably in other countries. The word ‘chaplet’166 originally meant a garland or wreath to be worn on the head; and a garland of leaves with four flowers at equal distances. Dryden says, ‘With chaplets green upon their foreheads placed.’ The word māla originally meant a garland, and subsequently a rosary or string of beads. From this it seems a legitimate deduction that rosaries or strings of beads of a sacred wood were substituted for flower-garlands as ornaments for the gods in view of their more permanent nature. Having been thus sanctified they may have come to be worn as a mark of holiness by saints or priests in imitation of the divine images, this being a common or universal fashion of Hindu ascetics. Subsequently they were found to serve as a useful means of counting the continuous repetition of prayers, whence arose the phrase ‘telling one’s beads.’ Like the Sanskrit māla, the English word rosary at first meant a garland of roses and subsequently a string of beads, probably made from rose-wood, on which prayers were counted. From this it may perhaps be concluded that the images of the deities were decorated with garlands of roses in Europe, and the development of the rosary was the same as the Indian māla. If the rose was a sacred flower we can more easily understand its importance as a badge in the Wars of the Roses.

5. Sub-castes

The caste has numerous endogamous groups, varying in different localities. The Phūlmālis, who derive their name from their occupation of growing and selling flowers (phūl), usually rank as the highest. The Ghāse Mālis are the only subcaste which will grow and prepare turmeric in Wardha; but they will not sell milk or curds, an occupation to which the Phūlmālis, though the highest subcaste, have no objection. In Chānda the Kosaria Mālis, who take their name from Kosala, the classical designation of the Chhattīsgarh country, are the sole growers of turmeric, while in Berār the Halde subcaste, named after the plant, occupy the same position. The Kosaria or Kosre subcaste abstain from liquor, and their women wear glass bangles only on one hand and silver ones on the other. The objection entertained to the cultivation of turmeric by Hindus generally is said to be based on the fact that when the roots are boiled numbers of small insects are necessarily destroyed; but the other Mālis relate that one of the ancestors of the caste had a calf called Hardulia, and one day he said to his daughter, Haldi pakā, or ‘Cook turmeric.’ But the daughter thought that he said ‘cook Hardulia,’ so she killed and roasted the calf, and in consequence of this her father was expelled from the caste, and his descendants are the Ghāse or Halde subcaste. Ever since this happened the shape of a calf may be seen in the flower of turmeric. This legend has, however, no real value and the meaning of the superstition attaching to the plant is obscure. Though the growing of turmeric is tabooed yet it is a sacred plant, and no Hindu girl, at least in the Central Provinces, can be married without having turmeric powder rubbed on her body. Mr. Gordon remarks in Indian Folk-Tales: “I was once speaking to a Hindu gardener of the possibility of turmeric and garlic being stolen from his garden. ‘These two vegetables are never stolen,’ he replied, ‘for we Hindus believe that he who steals turmeric and garlic will appear with six fingers in the next birth, and this deformity is always considered the birth-mark of a thief.’” The Jīre Mālis are so named because they were formerly the only subcaste who would grow cumin (jira), but this distinction no longer exists as other Mālis, except perhaps the Phūlmālis, now grow it. Other subcastes have territorial names, as Baone from Berār, Jaipuria, Kanaujia, and so on. The caste have also exogamous septs or bargas, with designations taken from villages, titles or nicknames or inanimate objects.

Bride and bridegroom with marriage crowns

6. Marriage

Marriage is forbidden between members of the same sept and between first and second cousins. Girls are generally betrothed in childhood and should be married before maturity. In the Uriya country if no suitable husband can be found for a girl she is sometimes made to go through the marriage ceremony with a peg of mahua wood driven into the ground and covered over with a cloth. She is then tied to a tree in the forest and any member of the caste may go and release her, when she becomes his wife. The Marārs of Bālāghāt and Bhandāra have the lamjhana form of marriage, in which the prospective husband serves for his wife; this is a Dravidian custom and shows their connection with the forest tribes. The marriage ceremony follows the standard form prevalent in the locality. In Betūl the couple go seven times round a slab on which a stone roller is placed, with their clothes knotted together and holding in their hands a lighted lamp. The slab and roller may be the implements used in powdering turmeric. “Among the Marārs of Bālāghāt167 the maternal uncle of the bridegroom goes to the village of the bride and brings back with him the bridal party. The bride’s party do not at once cross the boundary of the bridegroom’s village, but will stay outside it for a few hours. Word is sent and the bridegroom’s party will bring out cooked food, which they eat with the bride’s party. This done, they go to the house of the bridegroom and the bride forthwith walks five times round a pounding-stone. Next day turmeric is applied to the couple, and the caste people are given a feast. The essential portion of the ceremony consists in the rubbing of vermilion on the foreheads of the couple under the cover of a cloth. The caste permit the practice of ralla-palla or exchanging sisters in marriage. They are said to have a custom at weddings known as kondia, according to which a young man of the bridegroom’s party, called the Sānd or bull, is shut up in a house at night with all the women of the bride’s party; he is at liberty to seize and have intercourse with any of them he can catch, while they are allowed to beat him as much as they like. It is said that he seldom has much cause to congratulate himself.” But the caste have now become ashamed of this custom and it is being abandoned. In Chhattīsgarh the Marārs, like other castes, have the forms of marriage known as the Badi Shādi and Chhoti Shādi or great and small weddings. The former is an elaborate form of marriage, taking place at the house of the bride. Those who cannot afford the expense of this have a ‘Small Wedding’ at the house of the bridegroom, at which the rites are curtailed and the expenditure considerably reduced.

7. Widow-marriage, divorce and polygamy

Widow-marriage is permitted. The widower, accompanied by his relatives and a horn-blower, goes to the house of the widow, and here a space is plastered with cowdung and the couple sit on two wooden boards while their clothes are knotted together. In Bālāghāt168 the bridegroom and bride bathe in a tank and on emerging the widow throws away her old cloth and puts on a new one. After this they walk five times round a spear planted in the ground. Divorce is permitted and can be effected by mutual consent of the parties. Like other castes practising intensive cultivation the Mālis marry several wives when they can afford it, in order to obtain the benefit of their labour in the vegetable garden; a wife being more industrious and honest than a hired labourer. But this practice results in large families and household dissensions, leading to excessive subdivision of property, and wealthy members of the caste are rare. The standard of sexual morality is low, and if an unmarried girl goes wrong her family conceal the fact and sometimes try to procure an abortion. If these efforts are unsuccessful a feast must be given to the caste and a lock of the woman’s hair is cut off by way of punishment. A young hard-working wife is never divorced, however bad her character may be, but an old woman is sometimes abandoned for very little cause.