Mali

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”).
The jatis were organized (and their
social status determined) by the group’s
hereditary occupation, over which each
group held a monopoly. In traditional
northern Indian society, the Malis’
hereditary occupation was tending gardens, growing flowers, and making
flower garlands (mala).