Balai

The Balai, Raj Balai, Balahi or Bunkar\Sutarkar are found in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh in India.

Balai as Weaver
Balai is the bad pronounastion of hindi word "बुनाई", the word "Balai" itself is mean to weaving Weaving is the traditional occupation of Balais.

According to Hindu texts all the weaver in Hindu religion are the descendants of Rishi Mrikanda who was born in the clan of Bhrigu Rishi. Mrikanda is known as the father of modern weaving, He is also venerated as the father of Markandeya, the rishi (sage) who is featured extensively in the Markandeya Purana. In this context Balai weaver are also said to be descendants of Rishi Mrikanda.

similar : The Kanjeevaram Silk Weavers are also considered as descendants of Rishi Markanda, who was considered to be the weaver of the clothes that Gods themselves wore. In this way it can be said that all the weaver communities in Hinduism associated with rishi mrikanda too.

Bunker is the sub group from the caste of balai some of the bunker's are still doing the work of weaving and they belong to the vaishya

caste. They are attached with the work of weaving or selling.

Balai as Jain
Jain Shravak Sangha had preached among the Balai community in 1964 near Ratlam in village Guradia. Acharya Nanalal Maharaj from Jain Shravak Sangha gave Dharampal Jain Samaj to the balai community in the name of Lord Dharmanath, who was among the Tirthankaras of Jain society. Currently 1.25 lakh people of Malviya and Gujarati Balai community across the country have become Dharampal Jains.

Balai as Raj Balai
Historically the Raj Balais are said to be royal messengers, they used to convey messages from one kingdom to another kingdom at the ancient times. 'Raj' is the synonym Royal therefore the Balais who was engaged in such royal services called Raj Balais.

Beliefs
Balai are Hindus by religion. They are devotees of Maa Durga, Maa Chamunda and Maa Kalaratri. They also pay tribute to Baba Ramdeo Ji and consider "KALRATRI" as their kuldevi. Balais do not marry in their families or within their gotra. Balai have mixed gotras in their caste due to caste conversions. Balais are divided into a number of exogamous gotras such as Chouhan, Rathore, Parihar, Parmar, Solanki, Marichi, Atri, August, Bhardwaj, Matang, Dhaneshwar, Mahachand, Jogchand, Jogpal, Meghpal, Garva and Jaipal. They live in multi-caste villages in their own areas and bury their dead.

Balais are traditionally non-vegetarian cause they belief in Bali (animal sacrifice). Animal sacrifice is the part of worshiping Maa Durga and Kalaratri. At present most of the people of the community choose to be pure vegetarian.

Population
According to 2011 Census of India, Rajasthan showed their population as 306,034 contributing 9.11% in state, while there are 2,668,000 in over all country.

Language
They speak languages like Nimadi, Dhundari, Marwadi, Punjabi, Kashmiri and Gujarati in various Indian states.

Other

 * Sometimes balai is also referred as Julaha and Meghwal. Originally most of balais are associate themselves to Meghwal community and refer themselves as Meghwal and Meghvanshi.