A History of the Mahrattas v1.c7.156.2

v1.c7.156.2

They are also trumpeters by profession, and in this capacity are much employed in Mahratta armies. Tenth, the joshee [Joshī] or astrologer, is a Bramin who calculates nativities, foretells lucky and unlucky days, &c. Eleventh, the Bhat or bard. Twelfth, the Moolana, so called by the Mahrattas, is the Moolla [Mullah], or Mahomedan priest; and it is very strange how he is found ingrafted on the Balowtay establishment of a Hindoo village; if the Alowtay, which some say he ought to be, it would have been less unaccountable, especially, if we admit, as is frequently done, that the institution of the Alowtay must have been at a period long after that of the Balowtay; but this seems little more than mere conjecture.—The Moolana has charge of the mosques and burial places of Mahomedan saints, and manages the affairs of Enam, or free-hold lands attached to them. He performs the ceremony at Mahomedan marriages, and ought to be competent to all the duties of a Moolla; but he is very often found where there is no Mahomedan family except his own, and is known to the Mahratta population as the person who kills their sheep and goats when offered as a sacrifice trades and professions, necessary as artisans and public servants, at temples, or in their fields, to propitiate the deities presiding over the different *stulls*, or great divisions of the village lands.