_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.'