Mahali

Clans and Kinship

Risley (1891) recorded five divisions: Bansphor Mahali, who did bamboo work; Patar Mahali, basket-makers and cultivators; Sulunkhi Mahali, cultivators and labourers; Tanti Mahali, palanquin-bearers; and the Mahali Munda, a small group in Lohardaga. SCSTRTI (2013) still describes these five endogamous sections. Each is divided into exogamous totemic clans (killi). A man may not marry in his own clan or, in Risley's account, his mother's, and members may not kill or eat the clan totem; village exogamy is also followed. Descent, residence and inheritance are through the father, sons share equally, and the eldest son keeps the rites for the ancestors. The village council is made up of the naya (priest), the majhi (headman), the gadeat (messenger) and the elders.

The first thirty-one are the sections Risley lists for the Mahali (1891, vol. II, Appendix I, pp. 96-97) in his order, with his glosses and notes, then the three he gives for the Mahali Munda. The last two are killi that SCSTRTI (2013) names and Risley does not; its other examples (Charbar, Kathar gach, Kerketta, Murumar, Tirki) match his list.

In the Official Lists

• Scheduled Tribe

  West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar

  Listed as: Mahali

  Entered as 'Mahali' in West Bengal and Odisha and as 'Mahli' in Jharkhand and Bihar; West Bengal also has a separate entry 'Mahli', and Odisha's Munda entry includes 'Munda Mahalis' (Census 2011 tables).

Checked against the 2011 census table of each state and Wikipedia's compilation of the order; amendments after 2011 were not checked.

Checked on 2026-11-07 against the sources below. The lists are amended from time to time and can differ by district; for a certificate, the current order or the state's list is what counts.

Name and Origin

SCSTRTI's handbook (2013) derives the name from mat, the Santali word for bamboo. Risley (1891) compared the Mahali section names with those of the Santal and concluded that the main body of the Mahali, the Bansphor, Sulunkhi and Tanti groups, was a branch of the Santal that had separated not long before, and that the Mahali Munda had parted in the same way from the Munda. The Mahali of Odisha say they came from Bihar and Bengal and settled first near the Odisha border (SCSTRTI).

History

Risley (1891) described the Mahali of Chota Nagpur and western Bengal as basket-makers and bamboo workers, palanquin-bearers, cultivators and labourers, and recorded a headman, the parganait, and a council that settled their disputes. In Odisha SCSTRTI (2013) found them mainly in Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh, living in their own hamlets in villages shared with other communities. Men and women make baskets of many sizes, fences, fish traps and brooms, sold in local markets, and some farm or work for wages; Mahali artisans demonstrate the craft at SCSTRTI's tribal museum in Bhubaneswar.

Faith and Worship

Risley (1891) named Barpahari, the mountain god known also to the Munda and Santal, and Manasa, the snake goddess, as the deities the Mahali then chiefly worshipped, with goats, fowls, rice and ghee. SCSTRTI (2013) records that the Mahali of Odisha, like the Santal, hold Marang Buru as their supreme deity, and also worship Bana Kuanri, Manreiko Tureiko, Babaji, Bad Chandi and Rang Chandi, several of whom live in the sacred sal grove (jahirsthan) outside the village. Ancestors are worshipped, and the naya is the village priest.

Deities named in the sources: Marang Buru

Customs

In Risley's account the bride-price was small; on the wedding morning the groom was married to a mango tree and the bride to a mahua, and at the bride's house the groom marked her forehead five times with vermilion and gave her an iron armlet. A widow could remarry, preferably her late husband's younger brother. Some Mahali buried their dead and others cremated them, with offerings to ancestors in Kartik and Chait. SCSTRTI (2013) records nine days of birth pollution, after which the naya names the child by grain divination; the tribal council can expel anyone who marries within the clan.

Festivals