Maalhos (Baa Atoll)

Maalhos
Island Summary
Belongs to	Baa Atoll
Population	545
Length	7650m
Width	500m
Distance from Malé	114.67km

For other islands see Maalhos

Maalhos (Dhivehi: މާޅޮސް) is one of the inhabited islands of Southern Maalhosmadulhu Atoll, code letter Baa Atoll.

Anthropology

In this island there is the custom once every year to take a bath in seven different wells (haiy valhuń feń veruń). This is probably an ancestral Dravidian custom. The Pulaya or Cheruman, an agricultural caste of Kerala, used to take a bath in seven different tanks when they were considering themselves polluted. During the eid festival men cooks (firihenun kekkun) and give a dinner for ladys and then women cooks (anhenun kekkun) and give a dinner to all men in the island. jungle parade which the people of maalhos do is a modified edition of the parade which the armies do.

History

By historical researches the researchers have foud that Buddhism was the main religion of maalhos. Hassan Ibraahim (aaveli) found a damaged part of a budda head from the old grave yard.

References

• Xavier Romero-Frias, The Maldive Islanders, A Study of the Popular Culture of an Ancient Ocean Kingdom. Barcelona 1999, ISBN 84 7254 801 5
• E. Thurston, ‘Castes and Tribes of S. India’, Vol. 2.