LatonyaBiaggini at 13:11, 16 December 2025

2025-12-16T13:11:07Z

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{{Use Indian English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Malto
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image =
| pop =
| total_ref =
| total_year =
| popplace = India
| region2 =
| pop2 =
| languages = [[Malto language|Malto]]{{*}} [[Mal Paharia language|Mal Paharia]]{{*}} Regional languages
| religions = [[Hinduism]]<ref>"Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India". www.censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 2 November 2017.</ref>
| related = [[Kurukh people|Kurukh]]{{*}} [[Kisan people|Kisan]]{{*}} [[Mal Paharia people|Mal Paharia]]
}}
The '''Malto''' or '''Maler people''', also known as '''Pahariya''', are a [[Dravidian peoples|Dravidian]] tribal group from the [[Rajmahal hills|Rajmahal Hills]] in the northeastern [[Chota Nagpur Plateau]]. They are divided into three subgroups: [[Mal Paharia people|Mal Paharia]], [[Sauria Paharia people|Sauria Paharia]] and [[Kumarbhag Paharia people|Kumarbhag Paharia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.die.net/malto |url-status=dead |title=Definition: malto |website=Dictionary.die.net |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709104200/http://dictionary.die.net/malto |archive-date=9 July 2012 |access-date=6 August 2008}}</ref> All three are listed as Scheduled Tribes in [[Jharkhand]], [[Bihar]] and [[West Bengal]]. They speak [[Malto language|Malto]], related to the nearby [[Kurukh language]], and [[Mal Paharia language|Mal Paharia]], variously classified as an [[Indo-Aryan language]] belonging to the [[Bengali-Assamese language|Bengali-Assamese]] branch.

When the British first encountered them they were nomadic. They practised ''jhum'' cultivation, as well as hunting and gathering, and would often also raid the plains of Bihar to the north or Bengal to the east, and would then retreat back into the forest. If there was a crop failure, death or other disaster, they would move to a new spot. Due to the remoteness of their territory they were never conquered by any of the many empires that claimed to rule the region. When the British induced Santals to cultivate the Rajmahal Hills, the Maltos fought back, but were eventually driven out.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Crooke, William, 1848-1923.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/805760|title=Races of northern India|date=1973|publisher=Cosmo Publications|isbn=0-336-00404-4|oclc=805760}}</ref>

The Mal Paharia and Kumarbhag Paharia subgroups combined have a population of 182,560, while the Sauria Paharia subgroup has a population of 51,634, making the total Malto population 234,194.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A-11 Individual Scheduled Tribe Primary Census Abstract Data and its Appendix|url=http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/PCA/ST.html|access-date=3 November 2017 |website=www.censusindia.gov.in|publisher=Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India}}</ref>

Today they still practice ''jhum'' cultivation, called ''kurwa'' in their language, and collect minor forest produce. They are plagued by many problems, including high levels of poverty and extreme malnutrition. For this reason they are classified as a [[Particularly vulnerable tribal group|Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group]]. However some are now settled cultivators.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Ghosh|first=Anita|title=Souria Paharia are now in Transition: Beliefs, Rituals and Practices|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315549268|journal=ResearchGate}}</ref> They fish in summer, and many now work as daily wage labourers. A few have government jobs.

Among the Sauria Paharia, their traditional marriage ceremony is known as ''bedi'', that takes place in a house. Their society has no restrictions on premarital sexual relations, and children not born out of a marriage can still live with the mother. Another type of common marriage is marriage by capture.<ref name=":0" />

The Malto practice animism and revere a court of spirits known as ''Gosain''. The main Malto god is ''Dharmer Gosain'', a sun god, while their priests are known as ''demano''.<ref name=":1" />

The men wear a small loincloth, known as ''bhagwan'', while the women wear two garments: ''panchi'', an upper garment, usually an unstitched cloth, and ''pardhan'', a cloth around the waist.<ref name=":0" />

==Etymology==
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==References==
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{{Ethnic groups in Bangladesh}}

[[Category:Dravidian peoples]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Bangladesh]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in India]]
[[Category:Adivasi]]

{{Asia-ethno-group-stub}}

Malto people - Revision history

LatonyaBiaggini at 13:11, 16 December 2025