View Message

I do not know the answer. I know it as the name of a gotra (an exogamous unit), probably arising from an occupational term, ultimately originating from Sanskrit mAhiSya, `related to mahiSa' where mahiSa, from mahat, cognate with English much, meant the `big or powerful' one, referring to the water buffalo. The traditional occupation may have been to herd cows and water buffalos and trade their milk. The web page at http://tinyurl.com/66vld9 (a lot of ways down in the page) says that a kind of folk song/love ballad and the characters in it are called mahiya because of folk stories about some famous mahi (male) lover which were the original topic of this form of the song.

---

I cannot comment on the veracity of this webpage, or its connection to a feminine name, but it is possible that this word now signifies lover in this folk trend. Such transformation in a different word is actually known from a long time back: the naughty lover boy god of Indian mythology, kRSNa (meaning `black') took some cowherdess as his lovers, and the word gopI which means cowherdess from go, cognate with and meaning `cow' + pA meaning protecting or defending (cognate with elements in latin pasco, greek pepamai etc.), has a strong connotation of a lover, and is used as a female name (somewhat dated today) in the rustic setting.