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.