The Mahle (also spelled Mahlě) are a small ethnic group living in the northern districts of Rajshahi, Joypurhat, Dinajpur, Rangpur and Sylhet of Bangladesh. The total community size is 30,000 (approx) as of Mid 2009. They are spread over these 5 districts and in a few other places. In India, the number of Mahle is around 565,000. Anthropologically, they are an Austro-Asiatic tribe. Their forefathers came to this region from the Buru Disham hills of Jharkhand, India over a century ago. They speak either their own indigenous community language called Mahle Language or Santali (Saontali), though today’s educated generation speak Bengali and English as well. There are 3 tribes among them: Nagpuriya, Sikroya and Rajmahle. A total of 9 family names can be found among the Mahles – Dumri, Bare, Ka