- Mahl people
-
Mahl people refers to the Dhivehis of India (i.e. People of Minicoy and migrant communities from Minicoy). They are one of the three subgroups of the Dhivehi people and speak the Mahl dialect of Dhivehi language which is a member of the southern group of Indo-Aryan languages.[1][2][3][4]. All Mahls are native to the island of Minicoy in Union territory of Lakshadweep, India which was formerly a part of the Maldive Islands.
Contents
Demographics and Geographic distribution
A Map showing the connections of Mahls to various part of subcontinent
Most Mahls live in their native land of Maliku (Minicoy) in the union territory of Lakshadweep, India. In Lakshadweep the Mahls emerged as a sperate ethnic group and are 15.67% of the total population of Lakshadweep.
There are migrant communities of Mahls in other parts of India too. The origin of all the Mahl communities in India and elsewhere lies in the island of Minicoy. A number of Mahls have settled in the districts of Kozhikode, Malappuram, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) in the southern state of Kerala. There is a community of Mahls in Kerala who came and settled there in the 17th century, when the islands of Lakshadweep came under the rule of Ali Rajahs/Arakkal Bheevi of Kannur.
Social groups
Thakru
According to the ethno-history of the Thakru, a person named Thakru came to Minicoy from Atol Addu in Maldives and married thrice, and the present Thakru are his descendants.[5]
References
- ^ Cain, B.D. (2000). Dhivehi (Maldivian): A Synchronic and Diachronic Study (Ph.D. dissertation). Cornell University.
- ^ http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Do6yuIER54UJ:mathaaran.com/+mathaaran.com+also+known+locally+as+Maliku+Bas&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=mv
- ^ http://books.google.mv/books?id=t5tL1eFoqKYC&pg=PA71&dq=mahl+dialect&hl=en&ei=jGfuTOnvEcacOqr9kbgK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=mahl%20dialect&f=false
- ^ http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Mahal+language
- ^ Singh, K.S. (1993). People of India: Lakshadweep. Anthropological Survey of India. ISBN 8185336989.
External links
Categories:- Subgroups of the Dhivehi people
- Dhivehi people
- Mahls
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
