stain from alcoholic liquor. If a girl is seduced and made
pregnant before marriage either by a man of the caste or an outsider,
she remains in her father's house until her child has been born,
and may then be married either to her paramour or any other man of
the caste by the simple repetition of the Nikah or marriage verses,
omitting all other ceremonies. The Manihars will admit into their
community converted Hindus belonging even to the lowest castes.

Mannewar

_Mannewar._ [197]--A small tribe belonging to the south or
Telugu-speaking portion of the Chanda District, where they mustered
about 1600 persons in 1911. The home of the tribe is the Hyderabad
State, where it numbers 22,000 persons, and the Mannewars are said
to have once been dominant over a part of that territory. The name
is derived from a Telugu word _mannem_, meaning forest, while _war_
is the plural termination in Telugu, Mannewar thus signifying 'the
people of the forest.' The tribe appear to be the inferior branch
of the Koya Gonds, and they are commonly called Mannewar Koyas as
opposed to the Koya Doras or the superior branch, Dora meaning 'lord'
or master. The Koya Doras thus correspond to the Raj-Gonds of the
north of the Province and the Mannewar Koyas to the Dhur or 'dust'
Gonds. [198] The tribe is divided into three exogamous groups: the
Nalugu Velpulu worshipping four gods, the Ayidu Velpulu worshipping
five, and the Anu Velpulu six. A man must marry a woman of one of
the divisions worshipping a different number of gods from his own,
but the Mannewars do not appear to know the names of these gods, and
consequently no veneration can be paid to them at present, and they
survive solely for the purpose of regulating marriage. When a betrothal
is made a day is fixed for taking an omen. In the early morning the
boy who is to be married has his face washed and turmeric smeared
on his feet, and is seated on a wooden seat inside the house. The
elders of the village then proceed outside it towards the rising
sun and watch for any omen given by an animal or bird crossing their
path. If this is good the marriage is celebrated, and if bad the match
is broken off. In the former case five of the elders take their food on
returning from the search for the omen and immediately proceed to the
bride's village. Here they are met by the Pesamuda or village priest,
and stay for three days, when the amount of the dowry is settled and
a date fixed for the wedding