Mahle (ethnic group)

The Mahle (also spelled Mahlě) is a small ethnic group living in the northern districts of Rajshahi, Joypurhat, Dinajpur, Rangpur and Sylhet of Bangladesh.

Total community size 30,000 (approx) as on Mid 2009 spreading over these 5 districts and sporadically in some other places. In India, the number of Mahle is around 565,000. Anthropologically they are an Astro-Asiatic tribe. Their forefathers came to this region from the Buru Disham hills of Jharkhand, India over a century ago ^[1]. They speak either their own indigenous community language called Mahle Language or Santali (Saontali), but today’s educated generation speak Bangla and English as well. There are 3 tribes among them: Nagpuriya, Sikroya and Rajmahle. A total of 9 family names can be found among the Mahles – Dumri, Bare, Karkusho, Kauria, Khanger, Mandri, Hansda, Baske & Besra, of which the first 4 family names are almost extinct today. ^[2]

The Mahle people cannot marry within close relatives or within his/her tribe. There are 2 ways of executing the marriage – Angir Bapla & Sunum Bapla. The society is patriarchal, and in marriages the family of the bridegroom pays dowry to the family of the bride. Children bear the family name inherited from the father. Major profession of the community is manufacturing useful household articles using bamboo, e.g., dali (bin), kula (an indigenous multipurpose article used in processing rice/paddy), tungki (a bamboo-made pot to keep salt), hand propelled fan, etc and selling these in the local markets. They earn very little a day, but lives on whatever their ancestor’s trade fetches for them. Intra-community harmony is excellent. Their food habit is just like the other Bangladeshi residents of the region, with the exception of crabs, oysters and pork. Their dresses are a mixture of Bangladeshi Muslim and Hindu culture, and many Mahles wear modern dresses like shirt-pant-salwar-kameez.

Mahle children can not do well in conventional Bangla Medium primary schools because there is no scope of learning in their mother tongue. The mother tongue of the Mahle community has no written form. Mr. Zakarias Dumri, Director-MAASAUS and a Mahle by himself, has invented a Romanized Mahle alphabet for their language, which is being used experimentally in 3 primary schools of Damkurahat, Paba, Rajshahi. The schools are Sursunipara, Sinjaghutu and Pipra Multi Linguistic Education (MLE) schools. This new alphabet is allowing Mahle children to study in Bangla as well as their mother language, and as a result, literacy rate has increased in that area. Children are also doing better results in the schools. Teachers of the school and an NGO named SIL-Bangladesh and Manusher Jonno (for the mankind) is helping him in this endeavor.^[3]

There are 3 major festivals of the Mahles – Jitiya Parbon, Syurjahi Puja and Goal Puja. Most of these took place in the months of Bhadra (Mid-August to Mid September) and Falgun (Mid February to Mid March) of the Bangla calendar. Singing and dancing are integral parts of their festivals and celebrations. Jhumer is a prominent form of dance among this community, and almost every Mahle is expert in this dance (However, many Mahles of the current generation do not known this dance well). They use traditional musical instruments in their music and dance. They refrain from all household activities on the festival days in the belief that acting otherwise might bring bad fortune to their family. They burn the deceased like the Hindus. Kula (Hatak in their language) is very important in their practical life as well as religious sphere. They use the kula to process rice/paddy, and they also value the Kula as a religious symbol.

References

1. ^ Zakarias Dumri, BA (Hons), MA in History from Rajshahi University & Director-MAASAUS, a centre working for development of the Mahles located at Village-Damkura, PS-Poba, District-Rajshahi
2. ^ 'The Mahle Community of Damkura', Sheikh Mehedi Hasan , The Daily Prothom Alo, 24-Aug-2009.
3. ^ 'Short Introduction to the culture and lifestyle of the Mahle Community', Edited by Zakarias Dumri, Published by MAASAUS, Damkura, Rajshahi, February 2009.