A member of a caste in South Asia whose traditional occupation is gardening; hence, any native gardener. (defdate)
2008, (w), Sea of Poppies, Penguin 2015, p. 99:
the malis who tended the gardens, no less than the owners themselves, vied to outdo each other in the fancifulness of their plantings, creating here a little patch of topiary and there an avenue of trees, trimmed in the French fashion ….