Mala (caste)

The history 'Mala' word is unknown and sometimes it is derived from Sanskrit word 'mala' which means a wrestler. According to myths, they may be descendents of 'Chinayya' who was born from soiled clothes of Hindu goddess, Parvati. They can be related to 'Mailawaru' which means the scavenger. But in the Kannada and Tamil, 'maler' a word is related with hill or subjugated tribes who lived in the plains and forced towards hills.[1]

Mala can be also derived from the Sanskrit 'malla', which means wrestler which can be found in their nature also.

They are one of the oldest inhabitants of the land and ruled the Andhra region before the arrival of caste Hindu communities. There is also a claim that they belong to the rulers of the Malla Kingdom from the time of Mahajanapadas though thus claim may be baseless because Malas being an indigenous people unlike Mallas who ruled Northern part of India.

Malas are also said to be 'Hill Warriors' and they were raiders and warrior for Polygars of Vijayanagara.[2]

In 12th century, Palanati Brahmanaidu, the minister of Palnadu, adopted Kannamma Dasu, a Mala, who took part in the Battle of Palnadu and got martyred. His descendents were called Mala Dasulus who became head priests of Chennakesava Swamy Temples.[3]

In 1917, Bhagya Reddy Varma & Aringe Ramaswamy organised Adi-Andhra movement led Malas alongside Madigas to be part of Dravidian ideology. In census of 1931, about alot of them mentioned their castes as Adi Andhra and were officially included into the list list of Depressed Classes in 1935 Govt. of India Acts and later got carried in 1950 Constitution of India.[4]

Malas even opposed the 'Madiga Dandora Movement' in 1990s related to categorization of S.C quota and denied allegations of snatching major share of caste quotas and established 'Mala Mahanadu' to counter it's demands.[5]

Malas were mostly village watchmen, farm laborers, weavers, masons, messenger, etc. They are a scheduled caste and also work as manual labor for the upper castes.

According to Government of India census data from 2001,[7] Malas constituted 41.6 percent (5,139,305) of the Scheduled Castes (SC) population in the then state of Andhra Pradesh, which has subsequently been bifurcated by the creation of Telangana state.[8] They are largely concentrated in the coastal Andhra region and are the most literate Dalit community of the state.

They are also classified as a Scheduled Caste in Karnataka.[9]

A small section of the Mala also turned to Christianity but after noticing the similar caste politics in the Telugu Catholic church, shifted to Protestantism instead. They are mainly prominent in the Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC) and Church of South India (CSI).[10]

They made good use of the Christian educational programs, elevating some of their social position and now form part of the lower middle class. These Christian Malas are commonly called Merugumala people, who came from Godavari Krishna basin. They falls under, "Backward Classes -C" category with 1% Reservation at state level and at national level they come under Other Backward Class.[11]

They have been demanding central Government to accord them S.C status on par with Dalit Buddhists, Dalit Sikhs and not to discriminate them on religious grounds for being Dalit Christians. The case related to their demand is pending with the Supreme Court of India since 2005.[12][13]

• List of Malas

• Pai, Sudha (2011). "Affirmative Action, Group Rights and Democracy: The Mala-Madiga Conflict in Andhra Pradesh". In Kumar, Ashutosh (ed.). Rethinking State Politics in India: Regions within Regions. Routledge. p. 352–377. ISBN 978-0415597777.