Brahman: Malwi

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This article was written in 1916 when conditions were different. Even in 1916 its contents related only to Central India and did not claim to be true of all of India. It has been archived for its historical value as well as for the insights it gives into British colonial writing about the various communities of India. Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly on their online archival encyclopædia only after its formal launch. See examples and a tutorial.

From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India

By R. V. Russell

Of The Indian Civil Service

Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces

Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner

Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.

NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.

Brahman: Malwi

This is a local class of Brahmans from Malwa in Central India, who are found in the Hoshangabad and Betul Districts. They are said to have been invited here by the Gond kings of Kherla in Betul six or more centuries ago, and are probably of impure descent. Malwa is north of the Nerbudda, and they should therefore properly belong to the Panch-Gaur division, but they speak Marathi and their customs resemble those of Maratha Brahmans, who will take food cooked without water from them. The Malwi Brahmans usually belong to the Madhyandina branch of the Yajurvedi sect. They work as village accountants {patwdris) and village priests, and also cultivate land.