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.