the caste. The Bhats are in the position of beggars, and the other
Manas will not take food from them. Every man must have a Bhat for
his family under penalty of being temporarily put out of caste. It
is said that the Bhats formerly had books showing the pedigrees of
the different families, but that once in a spirit of arrogance they
placed their shoes upon the books; and the other Manas, not brooking
this insolence, burnt the books. The gravity of such an act may be
realised when it is stated that if anybody even threatens to hit a
Mana with a shoe, the indignity put upon him is so great that he is
temporarily excluded from caste and penalised for readmission. Since
this incident the Bhats have to address the Manas as 'Brahma,' to show
their respect, the Mana replying 'Ram, Ram.' Their women wear short
loin-cloths, exposing part of the thigh, like the Gonds. They eat
pork and drink liquor, but will take cooked food only from Brahmans.

Manbhao

1. History and nature of the sect

_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