Mala (caste)

Mala or Malla (different from the family/last name Malla from Andhra) is a social group or caste mostly from the south Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Mala is derived from the Sanskrit malla, which means wrestler. Mala groups are considered as Scheduled Castes by the Government of India.^[2]

According to Government of India census data from 2001,^[3] Malas constitute a total of 41.6 percent (5,139,305) of the scheduled caste population of the state. They are largely concentrated in the Coastal Andhra region. During the Adi-Andhra movement of the 1930s, several Mala caste people, including few Madigas, especially from coastal Andhra called themselves as 'Adi-Andhra' and were recorded in the census with the 'Adi-Andhra' caste name akin to Adi Dravida of Tamil Nadu. (Adi-Andhra is synonym word instead of using MALA In the ancient times, Malas were mostly village watchmen,domestic laborers etc., They were skilled workers too and were also recruited by the British Army because of their martial skills. Presently they don't have a specific caste profession and can be seen in many professions.It is directly the skill set which was identified by the upper caste people and segregation thereof. As such, Malas do not have any caste profession where the entire Indian castes were based on profession they have chosen to be associated with. Like kamma community who originally are farm workers, soldiers who are very much known for their bravery 'Padma saali' caste are the only people who are weavers. Malas have chosen to take up the profession of other castes which was at their reach.

The Mahars in neighbouring Maharashtra are akin to the Malas^[4] and the two dominant dalit castes in Tamil Nadu, Paraiyar and Pallar, tend to claim the inter-relation with the Malas, Mahars, Holeyas or Chalawadis of Karnataka and Pulayas. According to researchers like Ambedkar, the Mahars and similar communities like Malas were actually warriors of some defeated kingdom, they were pushed down in social status,they were disarmed but retained as village servants."

That happened in history. For example, there are Mahiya Rajputs in Gujarat and the more famous Khatris (Kshatriya, just like Malla) of Punjab. They were hindu warriors, defeated by invaders, asked to leave arms, the Khatris then took up trade and excelled in it.

Malas also have done well in various fields, especially in military.

Culture

Subdivisions

Malas, who were considerable in number, were mostly agricultural workers like Holeyas in Karnataka. And it has been pointed earlier, some of them were employed village messengers (Maskoori or Elodu) and some as watchmen of the village chavadi by the middle of Twentieth century. Malas were also employed to dig graves. Malas employed to see the irrigation in villages called Neerati, Neeradu.

There were kin-communities of Malas such as Baindla,Jangam, Poturaju, Mala Mashtin, Relli mala, Mala Rajanna, Mala dasari / Mala Dasu / Mithaalayyalavalu, Dandems, Nethakani or Mala sale, Mala Jangama.^[5] Mala Dasari/Mala Dasu has been a tradition of Tamil Nadu, which spread over to Andhra Pradesh between 9th and 10th century.

Jangams were traveling priests begging from Malas and at night they were to keep vigilance at the graveyards. Poturajus were another group of priests serving the village spirits both benevolent and malevolent. They also assist the priestess when the sacrifices were offered. Mashtis were traveling acrobats performing their heroics at the outskirts of the villages where caste villagers turn up to watch them. Mala dasoos were another set of priests who reside with Mala settlements. Dandems were agricultural laborers either hired or bought by landlords.

Christians

A section of the Malas also turned to Christianity but after noticing the similar caste politics in the Telugu Catholic church, shifted to Protestantism instead. They are prominent in the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), Church of South India (CSI). They have made very good use of the Christian educational programs, considerably elevating their social position and now form part of the upper middle class. These Christian Malas are commonly called Merugumala people, who came from Godavari Krishna basin. They are not considered Scheduled Castes by the Government of India but fall under the "BC-C" category (Backward castes C-category) with 1% Reservation at state level and at national level they come under Other Backward Class (OBC, List of OBC's; Andhra Pradesh list, Entry No.in the Central List-60 (Scheduled castes converts to Christianity and their progeny) ).^[6] They have been demanding central Government to accord them SC status on par with Dalit Buddhists, Dalit Sikhs and not to discriminate them on religious grounds for being Dalit Christians. The case is pending with the Supreme Court since 2005 when it was filed on behalf of Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims (Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz).

Notable people

References

• Reich, D. et al., Nature 461, 489-494, 2009.
• Bouckaert, R., Lemey, P., Dunn, M., Greenhill, S. J., Alekseyenko, A. V., Drummond, A. J., Gray, R. D., Suchard, M. A., & Atkinson, Q. D.*, Mapping the origins and expansion of the Indo-European language family. Science, 337:957–960. http://language.cs.auckland.ac.nz/ , 2012.