Malers

Malers, a numerous low-caste people of Behar, north-east India, chiefly in the upland Rajmahal valleys, west of the Sontals. Till the middle of the present century they enjoyed complete political independence, but since then their chiefs have become pensioners of the British authorities, to whom they are responsible for the maintenance of order. The Malers, who number about half a million, resemble the Gonds in type and dress, and, like them, speak a Dravidian dialect.