Mahar

Traditional Indian society was a collection of endogamous subgroups (in
which marriage is decreed by law to
occur only between members of the
same group) known as jatis (“birth”).
These jatis were organized (and their
social status determined) by the group’s
hereditary occupation, over which each
group held a monopoly. The Mahars
were an untouchable jati in
Maharashtrian society, performing various services and labor for the landlord
communities. The Mahars are famous
for two figures: the medieval bhakti
poet Chokamela, and the modern jurist
and social reformer Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.