Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.17.3

c48.s2.17.3

The Māliār of the north-west, who are entirely Muslim, are lower in position than the Arāīn, though they appear from the names of their subdivisions to be a branch of that caste. The Mālī get their name from the garlands it was their mission to prepare for the decoration of the temple deities and to throw round the necks of honoured guests at social ceremonies. They have long branched out into all kinds of garden cultivation, and their numerous subdivisions are frequently based upon the produce to which they are respectively devoted. Those who grow flowers, for instance, do not intermarry with the vegetable-growers, and the latter draw a distinction between themselves and the branch which grows onions, turnips or turmeric. The Kāchī has taken in upper India to the poppy and leguminous edibles, leaving roots to his poorer relative the Murāō, who is said to take his name from the radishes he grows. Some sections of the Kāchī, again, abstain from cultivating the sugarcane or chillies. The Saiṇī, another branch of the Mālī, are found in the east Panjāb and in Rohilkhand, where they are as much general cultivators as gardeners. In the former tract a good many of them are Sikhs, but the more prosperous claim Rājput blood. They stand high in their calling and seem to be living down the taint of the garden.