In Sambalpur the caste are usually stone-workers, making cups, mortars,
images of idols and other articles. They also build tanks and wander
from place to place for this purpose in large companies. It is related
that on one occasion they came to dig a tank in Drug, and the Raja
of that place, while watching their work, took a fancy to one of the
Odnis, as their women were called, and wanted her to marry him. But
as she was already married, and was a virtuous woman, she refused. The
Raja persisted in his demand, on which the whole body of Sansias from
Chhattisgarh, numbering, it is said, nine lakhs of persons, left their
work and proceeded to Wararbandh, near Raj-Nandgaon. Here they dug
the great tank of Wararbandh [624] in one night to obtain a supply of
water for themselves. But the Raja followed them, and as they could
not resist him by force, the woman whom he was pursuing burnt herself
alive, and thus earned undying fame in the caste. This legend is
perpetuated in the Odni Git, a popular folk-song in Chhattisgarh. But
it is a traditional story of the Sansias in connection with large
tanks, and in another version the scene is laid in Gujarat. [625]