The Mahli are a community in the Indian states of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

and

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. Basketry was main occupation of mahlis. Mahli speak Sadri, Mundari and Santali as their mother tongue rather than

Mahli The Mahli are a community in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th ...

. May be Mahli is a threatened language. Also use

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Hindi Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...

and Odia. They are included in list of

Scheduled Tribe The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

Origin

They are caste who works as palaqulin bearers and bamboo workers. They are divided into five endogamous subdivision: the bansphor Mahli, pahar mahli, Sulunkhi, Tanti and Mahli Munda. Their some septs are Barwar (banayan), Bhuktuar, dumriar (wild fig), gundli (a kind of grain), Induar (eel), Kantiar, Kasriar, Kathargachh (jackfruit tree), Kendriar, Kerketta (a bird), mahukal (a bird), Tirki, Tunduar, Turu, Lang Chenre, Sanga. Their four septs Hansda, Hemron, Murmu, Saren also found in Santal tribe.

Culture

Their traditional occupation was making households items of bamboo. They were also making musical instruments such as Mandar, Dhol, Nagara etc. Their deity is Surjahi (Solar deity). Other deity are Bar Pahari (mountain deity) and

Mansa Devi Manasa () is a Hindu goddess of snakes. She is worshipped mainly in Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar b ...

. Their festival are Bangri, Hariyari and

Nawakhani Nawakhani is harvest festival of of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. In this festival people eat new grain of rice after harvesting. Etymology Nawakhani means ''eating new''. Nawa means ''New'' and Khani means ''eat''. It signify eating new g ...

etc.

Official classification

In the past, they were treated as an untouchable caste but listed as

by the Jharkhand government.

References

External links

Mahali
Scheduled Tribes of Jharkhand Scheduled Tribes of West Bengal Scheduled Tribes of India Social groups of West Bengal Social groups of Odisha Scheduled Tribes of Odisha {{india-ethno-stub

Origin

Culture

Official classification

See also

References

External links