Musale Caste

[Liora Putcha]

ThePakistani Mussalis are concentrated in Punjab Province, though they live in the other provinces as well. Those in India are usually in Rajasthan, a state that borders Pakistan. There is a smaller number of them in Afghanistan.

The Mussali people are sanitation workers who do the most menial and disgusting jobs in Pakistan. They are looked down upon by other Pakistani communities. They are unhappy with their lot and they want more out of life.

The Mussalis are Muslims who are affected by the caste system. They have low status, and their form of Islam is tainted by Hinduism. All they can do is put their faith in Allah, and hope that he will reward them on the day of judgment.

Pray that the Mussali people will have the blessings of spiritual hunger that will lead them to Jesus Christ.

Pray for the Lord to thrust out workers to this untended field.

Pray for the Lord to raise up the Mussali communities with both physical and spiritual blessings that will show other communities what He can do for any people who submit to His ways.

Bhavsar or Bhavasar could also be the surname of some of the people of this ethnic group. According to the specific profession, Bhavsars are further divided into Rangrezs who were traditionally involved with woodblock printing on textiles and Shimpis/Darzis, who were traditionally involved in tailoring.

The Maharashtrian Bhavsars are locally called Rangarajulu. They were called a family of rulers, since they called them raj,they are related to the Shivaji Maharaj (Maratha King).later they changed their work due to circumstances in coluring sarees. They are also known as Maratha Kshatriya, as samaj well known in the states they dwell.

As time passed, they gave up the duties of war and a few members from the community started developing skills in stitching and dyeing clothes. These skills enabled them to grow as professional artisans and in turn they became royal tailors and dress designers. These artisans had to travel a lot, as their skills were well known throughout the nation. This community was later called Rangaraju in the regions of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (in Maharastra they are sub-clan of Maratha).

Bhavsars are found mostly in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. All have adapted to their local culture and traditions to varying degrees. However, Gujarat and Maharashtra are the primary regions from where the more recent migrations have occurred. Most Gujarati Bhavsars follow Vaishnavism, while some others follow Jainism. The Bhavsars started migrating to South India from the time of Shivaji and have settled in the South for several generations; however, they have maintained their Gujarati cultural ties to this day and date.

The Bhavasar community in Rajasthan speaks Bagri, a Rajasthani language. Further south, a very large number of Bhavsars have either Gujarati or Marathi as their mother tongue. Migrants to states other than Gujarat or Maharashtra invariably continue to speak their native mother tongue while being multilingual with the local language. For example, migrants from Maharashtra to the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu speak Telugu, Kannada and Tamil respectively, while being multilingual with the local language/s.

The weddings among Bhavsars are given a lot of importance. The wedding takes place as a Hindu Wedding Ceremony which has a number of rituals and customs. The community follows the system of arranged marriages which are usually decided by the parents or an older family member. The match could be selected by parents, or by the elder member of the family. However, the modern practice is to choose from a matchmaking agent, matrimonial site, or a trusted third party. although most of it is like a traditional Hindu Wedding Ceremony. Love marriages and intercaste marriages have grown more common in present generations outside the community.

Traditionally, Bhavsars were very religious and spiritualistic people. They worship Hinglaj Mata or Hingulambika who all Bhavsars claim as their original deity. The oldest temple dedicated to this deity Hingulamata is in the Baluchistan province of present day Pakistan. It should be noted that the Hinglaj temple is an important place of pilgrimage to other Hindus of that area and is maintained by a small Hindu community that remains there. Bhavsars may be one of the communities that resided in that area and worshiped the same goddess. There is no other older temple or deity in any other part of India that is commonly worshiped by the Bhavsars. It is therefore speculated that the Bhavsar community had its origin in the north-western part of undivided India (present day Pakistan).

Bhavsars in Gujarat,Madhya pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have their traditional caste council known as the Bhavsar Samaj or Bhavasar Kshatriya Samaj.The main function of the jāthi panchāyath (caste council) is to settle inter-family feuds, quarrels, etc. The office bearers of these panchayats are elected.

Project Vision: To provide equal opportunities for quality health care to the underprivileged, irrespective of community, gender, caste, class, age, & geographical location. The goal is to improve their overall physical and mental well-being.

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