_Mala._--A low Telugu caste of labourers and cotton-weavers. They
numbered nearly 14,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911,
belonging mainly to the Chanda, Nagpur, Jubbulpore, and Yeotmal
Districts, and the Bastar State. The Marathas commonly call them Telugu
Dhers, but they themselves prefer to be known as 'Telangi Sadar Bhoi,'
which sounds a more respectable designation. They are also known as
Mannepuwar and Netkani. They are the Pariahs of the Telugu country,
and are regarded as impure and degraded. They may be distinguished
by their manner of tying the head-cloth more or less in a square
shape, and by their loin-cloths, which are worn very loose and not
knotted. Those who worship Narsinghswami, the man-lion incarnation
of Vishnu, are called Namaddar, while the followers of Mahadeo are
known as Lingadars. The former paint their foreheads with vertical
lines of sandal-paste, and the latter with horizontal ones. The Malas
were formerly zealous partisans of the right-handed sect in Madras,
and the description of this curious system of faction given by the
Abbé Dubois more than a century ago may be reproduced: [152]
"Most castes belong either to the left-hand or right-hand faction. The
former comprises the Vaishyas or trading classes, the Panchalas or
artisan classes and some of the low Sudra castes. It also contains
the lowest caste, viz. the Chaklas or leather-workers, who are looked
upon as its chief support. To the right-hand faction belong most of
the higher castes of Sudras. The Pariahs (Malas) are also its great
support, as a proof of which they glory in the title of _Valangai
Maugattar_ or Friends of the Right Hand. In the disputes and conflicts
which so often take place between the two factions it is always the
Pariahs who make the most disturbance and do the most damage. The
Brahmans, Rajas and several classes of Sudras are content to remain
neutral and take no part in these quarrels. The opposition between the
two factions arises from certain exclusive privileges to which both
lay claim. But as these alleged privileges are nowhere clearly defined
and recognised, they result in confusion and uncertainty, and are with
difficulty capable of settlement. When one faction trespasses on the
so-called right of the other, tumults arise which spread gradually
over large tracts of territory, afford opportunity for excesses of all
kinds, and generally end in bloody conflicts. The Hindu, ordinarily so
timid and gentle in all other circumstances of life, seems to change
his nature completely on occasions like these. There is no danger that
he will not brave in maintaining what he calls his rights, and rather
than sacrifice a little of them he will expose himself without fear
to the risk of losing his life. The rights and privileges for which
the Hindus are ready to fight such sanguinary battles appear highly
ridiculous, especially to a European. Perhaps the sole cause of the
contest is the right to wear slippers or to ride through the streets
in a palanquin or on horseback during marriage festivals. Sometimes
it is the privilege of being escorted on certain occasions by armed
retainers, sometimes that of having a trumpet sounded in front of
a procession, or of being accompanied by native musicians at public
ceremonies." The writer of the _Madras Census Report_ of 1871 states:
[153] "It is curious that the females of two of the inferior castes
should take different sides to their husbands in these disputes. The
wives of the agricultural labourers side with the left hand, while
their husbands help in fighting the battles of the right, and the
shoemakers' wives also take the side opposed to their husbands. During
these festival disturbances, the ladies who hold political views
opposed to those of their husbands deny to the latter all the
privileges of the connubial state." The same writer states that the
right-hand castes claimed the prerogative of riding on horseback in
processions, of appearing with standards bearing certain devices,
and of erecting twelve pillars to sustain their marriage booths;
while the left-hand castes might not have more than eleven pillars,
nor use the same standards as the right. The quarrels arising out of
these small differences of opinion were so frequent and serious in the
seventeenth century that in the town of Madras it was found necessary
to mark the respective boundaries of the right- and left-hand castes,
and to forbid the right-hand castes in their processions from occupying
the streets of the left hand and vice versa. These disturbances have
gradually tended to disappear under the influence of education and
good government, and no instance of them is known to have occurred
in the Central Provinces. The division appears to have originated
among the members of the Sakta sect or the worshippers of Sakti as
the female principle of life in nature. Dr. L. D. Barnett writes:
[154]--"The followers of the sect are of two schools. The 'Walkers
in the Right Way' (_Dakshinachari_) pay a service of devotion to
the deity in both male and female aspects, and except in their more
pronounced tendency to dwell upon the horrific aspects of the deity
(as Kali, Durga, etc.), they differ little from ordinary Saivas
and Vaishnavas. The 'Walkers in the Left Way' (_Vamachari_), on the
other hand, concentrate their thought upon the godhead in its sexually
maternal aspect, and follow rites of senseless magic and--theoretically
at least--promiscuous debauchery." As has been seen, the religious
differences subsequently gave rise to political factions.