The Mali are an occupational caste found among the Hindus who traditionally worked as gardeners and florists.They also call themselves Phul Mali due to their occupation of growing flowers. The Mali are found throughout North India, East India as well as the Terai region of Nepal and Maharashtra.
Mali of Northern india
There are many endogamous groups within Malis. Not all Mali groups have the same origin, culture, history or social standing and there is at least one group - the Rajput Mali, from Rajasthan - that overlaps with Rajputs and was included under the Rajput sub-category in the 1891 State Census Report for Marwar.
The Mali of Maharashtra are a caste of cultivators specializing in horticulture. The caste is concentrated in five districts of Western Maharashtra and a district in the Vidarbha region.They traditionally made their living by cultivating fruit, flowers and vegetables. There are many different sub-castes depending on what the sub-group cultivated, for example, the Phul mali were florists, the Jire mali grew jire or cumin, and halde mali cultivated Halad etc. In the 20th century, the mali have been the pioneers in using irrigation to grow cash crops such as sugar cane and in establishing farmer owned sugar mills. This led later in the century of wide spread cultivation of sugarcane in Western Maharashtra by other communities as well as the establishment hundreds of sugar mills in Maharashtra and other regions of India.
The 19th century social reformer, Jyotirao Phule belonged to the Mali community.His work extended to many fields including eradication of untouchability and the caste system, and women's emancipation. He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of education for women and Dalits in India. The couple was among the first native Indians to open a school for girls of India. He also founded a home for pregnant Hindu brahmin widows to safely give birth before returning to their families.In 1873, Phule, along with his followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj to attain equal rights for people from lower castes. Other Mali such as Gyanoba Sasane and Narayan Lokhande were leading members and financial supporters of the Samaj in its early years. Lokhande has been called the father of trade Unionism in India.
