_Mal, Male, Maler, Mal Paharia._ [150]--A tribe of the Rajmahal
hills, who may be an isolated branch of the Savars. In 1911 about
1700 Mals were returned from the Chota Nagpur Feudatory States
recently transferred to the Central Provinces. The customs of the
Mals resemble those of the other hill tribes of Chota Nagpur. Sir
H. Risley states that the average stature is low, the complexion
dark and the figure short and sturdy. The following particulars are
reproduced from Colonel Dalton's account of the tribe:
"The hill lads and lasses are represented as forming very romantic
attachments, exhibiting the spectacle of real lovers 'sighing
like furnaces,' and the cockney expression of 'keeping company'
is peculiarly applicable to their courtship. If separated only for
an hour they are miserable, but there are apparently few obstacles
to the enjoyment of each other's society, as they work together, go
to market together, eat together, and sleep together! But if it be
found that they have overstepped the prescribed limits of billing and
cooing, the elders declare them to be out of the pale, and the blood
of animals must be shed at their expense to wash away the indiscretion
and obtain their readmission into society.
"On the day fixed for a marriage the bridegroom with his relations
proceeds to the bride's father's house, where they are seated on cots
and mats, and after a repast the bride's father takes his daughter's
hand and places it in that of the bridegroom, and exhorts him to be
loving and kind to the girl that he thus makes over to him. The groom
then with the little finger of his right hand marks the girl on the
forehead with vermilion, and then, linking the same finger with the
little finger of her right hand, he leads her away to his own house.
"The god of hunting is called Autga, and at the close of every
successful expedition a thank-offering is made to him. This is the
favourite pastime, and one of the chief occupations of the Malers,
and they have their game laws, which are strictly enforced. If a man,
losing an animal which he has killed or wounded, seeks for assistance
to find it, those who aid are entitled to one-half of the animal when
found. Another person accidentally coming on dead or wounded game and
appropriating it, is subjected to a severe fine. The Manjhi or headman
of the village is entitled to a share of all game killed by any of his
people. Any one who kills a hunting dog is fined twelve rupees. Certain
parts of an animal are tabooed to females as food, and if they infringe
this law Autga is offended and game becomes scarce. When the hunters
are unsuccessful it is often assumed that this is the cause, and the
augur never fails to point out the transgressing female, who must
provide a propitiatory offering. The Malers use poisoned arrows,
and when they kill game the flesh round the wound is cut off and
thrown away as unfit for food. Cats are under the protection of the
game laws, and a person found guilty of killing one is made to give
a small quantity of salt to every child in the village.
"I nowhere find any description of the dances and songs of the
Paharias. Mr. Atkinson found the Malers extremely reticent on the
subject, and with difficulty elicited that they had a dancing-place
in every village, but it is only when under the influence of God
Bacchus that they indulge in the amusement. All accounts agree in
ascribing to the Paharias an immoderate devotion to strong drink, and
Buchanan tells us that when they are dancing a person goes round with
a pitcher of the home-brew and, without disarranging the performers,
who are probably linked together by circling or entwining arms, pours
into the mouth of each, male and female, a refreshing and invigorating
draught. The beverage is the universal _pachwai_, that is, fermented
grain. The grain, either maize, rice or _janera_ (_Holcus sorghum_),
is boiled and spread out on a mat to cool. It is then mixed with a
ferment of vegetables called _takar_, and kept in a large earthen
vessel for some days; warm water may at any time be mixed with it,
and in a few hours it ferments and is ready for use."
When the attention of English officers was first drawn to them in 1770
the Males of the Rajmahal hills were a tribe of predatory freebooters,
raiding and terrorising the plain country from the foot of the hills to
the Ganges. It was Mr. Augustus Cleveland, Collector of Bhagalpur, who
reduced them to order by entering into engagements with the chiefs for
the prevention and punishment of offences among their own tribesmen,
confirming them in their estates and jurisdiction, and enrolling a
corps of Males, which became the Bhagalpur Hill Rangers, and was not
disbanded till the Mutiny. Mr. Cleveland died at the age of 29, having
successfully demonstrated the correct method of dealing with the wild
forest tribes, and the Governor-General in Council erected a tomb and
inscription to his memory, which was the original of that described
by Mr. Kipling in _The Tomb of his Ancestors_, though the character
of the first John Chinn in the story was copied from Outram. [151]