Chapter 18

_Manbhao_. [177]--A religious sect or order, which has now become a caste, belonging to the Maratha Districts of the Central Provinces and to Berar. Their total strength in India in 1911 was 10,000 persons, of whom the Central Provinces and Berar contained 4000. The name would appear to have some such meaning as 'The reverend brothers.' The Manbhaos are stated to be a Vaishnavite order founded in Berar some two centuries ago. [178] They themselves say that their order is a thousand years old and that it was founded by one Arjun Bhat, who lived at Domegaon, near Ahmadnagar. He was a great Sanskrit scholar and a devotee of Krishna, and preached his doctrines to all except the Impure castes. Ridhpur, in Berar, is the present headquarters of the order, and contains a monastery and three temples, dedicated to Krishna and Dattatreya, [179] the only deities recognised by the Manbhaos. Each temple is named after a village, and is presided over by a Mahant elected from the celibate Manbhaos. There are other Mahants, also known after the names of villages or towns in which the monasteries over which they preside are located. Among these are Sheone, from the village near Chandur in Amraoti District; Akulne, a village near Ahmadnagar; Lasorkar, from Lasor, near Aurangabad; Mehkarkar, from Mehkar in Buldana; and others. The order thus belongs to Berar and the adjoining parts of India. Colonel Mackenzie describes Ridhpur as follows: "The name is said to be derived from _ridh_, meaning blood, a Rakshas or demon having been killed there by Parasurama, and it owes its sanctity to the fact that the god lived there. Black stones innumerable scattered about the town show where the god's footsteps became visible. At Ridhpur Krishna is represented by an ever-open, sleeplessly watching eye, and some Manbhaos carry about a small black stone disk with an eye painted on it as an amulet." Frequently their shrines contain no images, but are simply _chabutras_ or platforms built over the place where Krishna or Dattatreya left marks of their footprints. Over the platform is a small veranda, which the Manbhaos kiss, calling upon the name of the god. Sukli, in Bhandara, is also a headquarters of the caste, and contains many Manbhao tombs. Here they burn camphor in honour of Dattatreya and make offerings of cocoanuts. They make pilgrimages to the different shrines at the full moons of Chait (March) and Kartik (October). They pay reverence to no deities except Krishna and Dattatreya, and observe the festivals of Gokul Ashtami in August and Datta-Jayantri in December. They consider the month of Aghan (November) as holy, because Krishna called it so in the Bhagavat-Gita. This is their sacred book, and they reject the other Hindu scriptures. Their conception of Krishna is based on his description of himself to Arjun in the Bhagavat-Gita as follows: "'Behold things wonderful, never seen before, behold in this my body the whole world, animate and inanimate. But as thou art unable to see with these thy natural eyes, I will give thee a heavenly eye, with which behold my divine connection.'

"The son of Pandu then beheld within the body of the god of gods standing together the whole universe divided forth into its vast variety. He was overwhelmed with wonder and every hair was raised on end. 'But I am not to be seen as thou hast seen me even by the assistance of the Vedas, by mortification, by sacrifices, by charitable gifts: but I am to be seen, to be known in truth, and to be obtained by that worship which is offered up to me alone: and he goeth unto me whose works are done for me: who esteemeth me supreme: who is my servant only: who hath abandoned all consequences, and who liveth amongst all men without hatred.'"

Again: "He my servant is dear to me who is free from enmity, the friend of all nature, merciful, exempt from all pride and selfishness, the same in pain and in pleasure, patient of wrong, contented, constantly devout, of subdued passions and firm resolves, and whose mind and understanding are fixed on me alone."

2. Divisions of the order

The Manbhaos are now divided into three classes: the Brahmachari; the Gharbari; and the Bhope. The Brahmachari are the ascetic members of the sect who subsist by begging and devote their lives to meditation, prayer and spiritual instruction. The Gharbari are those who, while leading a mendicant life, wearing the distinctive black dress of the order and having their heads shaved, are permitted to get married with the permission of their Mahant or _guru_. The ceremony is performed in strict privacy inside a temple. A man sometimes signifies his choice of a spouse by putting his _jholi_ or beggar's wallet upon hers; if she lets it remain there, the betrothal is complete. A woman may show her preference for a man by bringing a pair of garlands and placing one on his head and the other on that of the image of Krishna. The marriage is celebrated according to the custom of the Kunbis, but without feasting or music. Widows are permitted to marry again. Married women do not wear bangles nor toe-rings nor the customary necklace of beads; they put on no jewellery, and have no _choli_ or bodice. The Bhope or Bhoall, the third division of the caste, are wholly secular and wear no distinctive dress, except sometimes a black head-cloth. They may engage in any occupation that pleases them, and sometimes act as servants in the temples of the caste. In Berar they are divided into thirteen _bas_ or orders, named after the disciples of Arjun Bhat, who founded the various shrines. The Manbhaos are recruited by initiation of both men and women from any except the impure castes. Young children who have been vowed by their parents to a religious life or are left without relations, are taken into the order. Women usually join it either as children or late in life. The celibate members, male or female, live separately in companies like monks and nuns. They do not travel together, and hold services in their temples at different times. A woman admitted into the order is henceforward the disciple of the woman who initiated her by whispering the _guru mantra_ or sacred verse into her ear. She addresses her preceptress as mother and the other women as sisters. The Manbhaos are intelligent and generally literate, and they lead a simple and pure life. They are respectable and are respected by the people, and a _guru_ or spiritual teacher is often taken from them in place of a Brahman or Gosain. They often act as priests or _gurus_ to the Mahars, for whom Brahmans will not perform these services. Their honesty and humility are proverbial among the Kunbis, and are in pleasing contrast to the character of many of the Hindu mendicant orders. They consider it essential that all their converts should be able to read the Bhagavat-Gita or a commentary on it, and for this purpose teach them to read and write during the rainy season when they are assembled at one of their monasteries.

3. Religious observances and customs

One of the leading tenets of the Manbhaos is a respect for all forms of animal and even vegetable life, much on a par with that of the Jains. They strain water through a cloth before drinking it, and then delicately wipe the cloth to preserve any insects that may be upon it. They should not drink water in, and hence cannot reside in, any village where animal sacrifices are offered to a deity. They will not cut down a tree nor break off a branch, or even a blade of grass, nor pluck a fruit or an ear of corn. Some, it is said, will not even bathe in tanks for fear of destroying insect-life. For this reason also they readily accept cooked food as alms, so that they may avoid the risk of the destruction of life involved in cooking. The Manbhaos dislike the din and noise of towns, and live generally in secluded places, coming into the towns only to beg. Except in the rains they wander about from place to place. They beg in the morning, and then return home and, after bathing and taking their food, read their religious books. They must always worship Krishna before taking food, and for this purpose when travelling they carry an image of the deity about with them. They will take food and water from the higher castes, but they must not do so from persons of low caste on pain of temporary excommunication. They neither smoke nor chew tobacco. Both men and women shave the head clean, and men also the face. This is first done on initiation by the village barber. But the _sendhi_ or scalp-lock and moustaches of the novice must be cut off by his _guru_, this being the special mark of his renunciation of the world. The scalp-locks of the various candidates are preserved until a sufficient quantity of hair has been collected, when ropes are made of it, which they fasten round their loins. This may be because Hindus attach a special efficacy to the scalp-lock, perhaps as being the seat of a man's strength or power. The nuns also shave their heads, and generally eschew every kind of personal adornment. Both monks and nuns usually dress in black or ashen-grey clothes as a mark of humility, though some have discarded black in favour of the usual Hindu mendicant colour of red ochre. The black colour is in keeping with the complexion of Krishna, their chief god. They dye their cloths with lamp-black mixed with a little water and oil. They usually sleep on the ground, with the exception of those who are Mahants, and they sometimes have no metal vessels, but use bags made of strong cloth for holding food and water. Men's names have the suffix _Boa_, as Datto Boa, Kesho Boa, while those of boys end in _da_, as Manoda, Raojida, and those of women in _Bai_, as Gopa Bai, Som Bai. The dead are buried, not in the common burial-grounds, but in some waste place. The corpse is laid on its side, facing the east, with head to the north and feet to the south. A piece of silk or other valuable cloth is placed on it, on which salt is sprinkled, and the earth is then filled in and the ground levelled so as to leave no trace of the grave. No memorial is erected over a Manbhao tomb, and no mourning nor ceremony of purification is observed, nor are oblations offered to the spirits of the dead. If the dead man leaves any property, it is expended on feeding the brotherhood for ten days; and if not, the Mahant of his order usually does this in his name.

4. Hostility between Manbhaos and Brahmans

The Manbhaos are dissenters from orthodox Hinduism, and have thus naturally incurred the hostility of the Brahmans. Mr. Kitts remarks of them: [180] "The Brahmans hate the Manbhaos, who have not only thrown off the Brahmanical yoke themselves, but do much to oppose the influence of Brahmans among the agriculturists. The Brahmans represent them as descended from one Krishna Bhat, a Brahman who was outcasted for keeping a beautiful Mang woman as his mistress. His four sons were called the _Mang-bhaos_ or Mang brothers." This is an excellent instance of the Brahman talent for pressing etymology into their service as an argument, in which respect they resemble the Jesuits. By asserting that the Manbhaos are descended from a Mang woman, one of the most despised castes, they attempt to dispose of these enemies of a Brahman hegemony without further ado.

Another story about their wearing black or ashen-coloured clothes related by Colonel Mackenzie is that Krishna Bhat's followers, refusing to believe the aspersions cast on their leader by the Brahmans, but knowing that some one among them had been guilty of the sin imputed to him, determined to decide the matter by the ordeal of fire. Having made a fire, they cast into it their own clothes and those of their _guru_, each man having previously written his name on his garments. The sacred fire made short work of all the clothes except those of Krishna Bhat, which it rejected and refused to burn, thereby forcing the unwilling disciples to believe that the finger of God pointed to their revered _guru_ as the sinner. In spite of the shock of thus discovering that their idol had feet of very human clay, they still continued to regard Krishna Bhat's precepts as good and worthy of being followed, only stipulating that for all time Manbhaos should wear clothes the colour of ashes, in memory of the sacred fire which had disclosed to them their _guru's_ sin.

Captain Mackintosh also relates that "About A.D. 1780, a Brahman named Anand Rishi, an inhabitant of Paithan on the Godavari, maltreated a Manbhao, who came to ask for alms at his door. This Manbhao, after being beaten, proceeded to his friends in the vicinity, and they collected a large number of brethren and went to the Brahman to demand satisfaction; Anand Rishi assembled a number of Gosains and his friends, and pursued and attacked the Manbhaos, who fled and asked Ahalya Bai, Rani of Indore, to protect them; she endeavoured to pacify Anand Rishi by telling him that the Manbhaos were her _gurus_; he said that they were Mangs, but declared that if they agreed to his proposals he would forgive them; one of them was that they were not to go to a Brahman's house to ask for alms, and another that if any Brahman repeated Anand Rishi's name and drew a line across the road when a Manbhao was advancing, the Manbhao, without saying a word, must return the road he came. Notwithstanding this attempt to prevent their approaching a Brahman's house, they continue to ask alms of the Brahmans, and some Brahmans make a point of supplying them with provisions."

This story endeavours to explain a superstition still observed by the caste. This is that when a Manbhao is proceeding along a road, if any one draws a line across the road with a stick in front of him the Manbhao will wait without passing the line until some one else comes up and crosses it before him. In reality this is probably a primitive superstition similar to that which makes a man stop when a snake has crossed the road in front of him and efface its track before proceeding. It is said that the members of the order also carry their sticks upside down, and a saying is repeated about them:

Manbhao hokar kale kapre darhi muchi mundhata hai, Ulti lakri hath men pakri woh kya Sahib milta hai;

or, "The Manbhao wears black clothes, shaves his face and holds his stick upside down, and thinks he will find God that way."

This saying is attributed to Kabir.

Mang

List of Paragraphs

1. _Origin and traditions_. 2. _Subdivisions_. 3. _Marriage_. 4. _Widow-marriage._ 5. _Burial_. 6. _Occupation_. 7. _Religion and social status_.

1. Origin and traditions

_Mang._ [181]--A low impure caste of the Maratha Districts, who act as village musicians and castrate bullocks, while their women serve as midwives. The Mangs are also sometimes known as Vajantri or musician. They numbered more than 90,000 persons in 1911, of whom 30,000 belonged to the Nagpur and Nerbudda Divisions of the Central Provinces, and 60,000 to Berar. The real origin of the Mangs is obscure, but they probably originated from the subject tribes and became a caste through the adoption of the menial services which constitute their profession. In a Maratha book called the Shudra Kamlakar [182], it is stated that the Mang was the offspring of the union of a Vaideh man and an Ambashtha woman. A Vaideh was the illegitimate child of a Vaishya father and a Brahman mother, and an Ambashtha of a Brahman father and a Vaishya mother. The business of the Mang was to play on the flute and to make known the wishes of the Raja to his subjects by beat of drum. He was to live in the forest or outside the village, and was not to enter it except with the Raja's permission. He was to remove the dead bodies of strangers, to hang criminals, and to take away and appropriate the clothes and bedding of the dead. The Mangs themselves relate the following legend of their origin as given by Mr. Sathe: Long ago before cattle were used for ploughing, there was so terrible a famine upon the earth that all the grain was eaten up, and there was none left for seed. Mahadeo took pity on the few men who were left alive, and gave them some grain for sowing. In those days men used to drag the plough through the earth themselves. But when a Kunbi, to whom Mahadeo had given some seed, went to try and sow it, he and his family were so emaciated by hunger that they were unable, in spite of their united efforts, to get the plough through the ground. In this pitiable case the Kunbi besought Mahadeo to give him some further assistance, and Mahadeo then appeared, and, bringing with him the bull Nandi, upon which he rode, told the Kunbi to yoke it to the plough. This was done, and so long as Mahadeo remained present, Nandi dragged the plough peaceably and successfully. But as soon as the god disappeared, the bull became restive and refused to work any longer. The Kunbi being helpless, again complained to Mahadeo, when the god appeared, and in his wrath at the conduct of the bull, great drops of perspiration stood upon his brow. One of these fell to the ground, and immediately a coal-black man sprang up and stood ready to do Mahadeo's bidding. He was ordered to bring the bull to reason, and he went and castrated it, after which it worked well and quietly; and since then the Kunbis have always used bullocks for ploughing, and the descendants of the man, who was the first Mang, are employed in the office for which he was created. It is further related that Nandi, the bull, cursed the Mang in his pain, saying that he and his descendants should never derive any profit from ploughing with cattle. And the Mangs say that to this day none of them prosper by taking to cultivation, and quote the following proverb: '_Keli kheti, Zhali mati_,' or, 'If a Mang sows grain he will only reap dust.'

2. Subdivisions

The caste is divided into the following subcastes: Dakhne, Khandeshe and Berarya, or those belonging to the Deccan, Khandesh and Berar; Ghodke, those who tend horses; Dafle, tom-tom players; Uchle, pickpockets; Pindari, descendants of the old freebooters; Kakarkadhe, stone-diggers; Holer, hide-curers; and Garori. The Garoris [183] are a sept of vagrant snake-charmers and jugglers. Many are professional criminals.

3. Marriage

The caste is divided into exogamous family groups named after animals or other objects, or of a titular nature. One or two have the names of other castes. Members of the same group may not intermarry. Those who are well-to-do marry their daughters very young for the sake of social estimation, but there is no compulsion in this matter. In families which are particularly friendly, Mr. Sathe remarks, children may be betrothed before birth if the two mothers are with child together. Betel is distributed, and a definite contract is made, on the supposition that a boy and girl will be born. Sometimes the abdomen of each woman is marked with red vermilion. A grown-up girl should not be allowed to see her husband's face before marriage. The wedding is held at the bride's house, but if it is more convenient that it should be in the bridegroom's village, a temporary house is found for the bride's party, and the marriage-shed is built in front of it. The bride must wear a yellow bodice and cloth, yellow and red being generally considered among Hindus as the auspicious colours for weddings. When she leaves for her husband's house she puts on another or going-away dress, which should be as fine as the family can afford, and thereafter she may wear any colour except white. The distinguishing marks of a married woman are the _mangal-sutram_ or holy thread, which her husband ties on her neck at marriage; the _garsoli_ or string of black beads round the neck; the silver toe-rings and glass bangles. If any one of these is lost, it must be replaced at once, or she is likely soon to be a widow. The food served at the wedding-feast consists of rice and pulse, but more essential than these is an ample provision of liquor. It is a necessary feature of a Mang wedding that the bridegroom should go to it riding on a horse. The Mahars, another low caste of the Maratha Districts, worship the horse, and between them and the Mangs there exists a long-standing feud, so that they do not, if they can help it, drink of the same well. The sight of a Mang riding on a horse is thus gall and wormwood to the Mahars, who consider it a terrible degradation to the noble animal, and this fact inflaming their natural enmity, formerly led to riots between the castes. Under native rule the Mangs were public executioners, and it was said to be the proudest moment of Mang's life when he could perform his office on a Mahar.

The bride proceeds to her husband's house for a short visit immediately after the marriage, and then goes home again. Thereafter, till such time as she finally goes to live with him, she makes brief visits for festivals or on other social occasions, or to help her mother-in-law, if her assistance is required. If the mother-in-law is ill and requires somebody to wait on her, or if she is a shrew and wants some one to bully, or if she has strict ideas of discipline and wishes personally to conduct the bride's training for married life, she makes the girl come more frequently and stay longer.

4. Widow marriage

The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a widow may marry any one except persons of her own family group or her husband's elder brother, who stands to her in the light of a father. She is permitted, but not obliged, to marry her husband's younger brother, but if he has performed the dead man's obsequies, she may not marry him, as this act has placed him in the relation of a son to her deceased husband. More usually the widow marries some one in another village, because the remarriage is always held in some slight disrepute, and she prefers to be at a distance from her first husband's family. Divorce is said to be permitted only for persistent misconduct on the part of the wife.

5. Burial

The caste always bury the dead and observe mourning only for three days. On returning from a burial they all get drunk, and then go to the house of the deceased and chew the bitter leaves of the _nim_ tree (_Melia indica_). These they then spit out of their mouths to indicate their complete severance from the dead man.

6. Occupation

The caste beat drums at village festivals, and castrate cattle, and they also make brooms and mats of date-palm and keep leeches for blood-letting. Some of them are village watchmen and their women act as midwives. As soon as a baby is born, the midwife blows into its mouth, ears and nose in order to clear them of any impediments. When a man is initiated by a _guru_ or spiritual preceptor, the latter blows into his ear, and the Mangs therefore say that on account of this act of the midwife they are the _gurus_ of all Hindus. During an eclipse the Mangs beg, because the demons Rahu and Ketu, who are believed to swallow the sun and moon on such occasions, were both Mangs, and devout Hindus give alms to their fellow-castemen in order to appease them. Those of them who are thieves are said not to steal from the persons of a woman, a bangle-seller, a Lingayat Mali or another Mang. [184] In Maratha villages they sometimes take the place of Chamars, and work in leather, and one writer says of them: "The Mang is a village menial in the Maratha villages, making all leather ropes, thongs and whips, which are used by the cultivators; he frequently acts as watchman; he is by profession a thief and executioner; he readily hires himself as an assassin, and when he commits a robbery he also frequently murders." In his menial capacity he receives presents at seed-time and harvest, and it is said that the Kunbi will never send the Mang empty away, because he represents the wrath of Mahadeo, being made from the god's sweat when he was angry.

7. Religion and social status