Mahar - Settlements

The Mahar quarters, called the maharwada, were always outside Maharashtrian villages, traditionally to the east, or downriver. In the nineteenth century, colonies of Mahars grew in railway towns, in mill towns, near ammunition factories, and in British army cantonment areas (where Mahars were servants), but city housing now is segregated more by economic level than by caste. The village pattern of segregation is still strictly observed. The Mahar village hut is typical of the poor in the Maharashtrian area. There are no special features.