1336.] 



An account of the Maun Bhoics, 



II, — An account of the Maun Bhows ; or, the black clothed 

 Mendicant Devotees. — By Captain A. Mackintosh, 21th 

 Madras Native Infantry, Commanding Ahmednuggur 

 Police Corps. 



It is well known to every person who has either read the 

 History of Hindoostan, or sojourned in India, that numbers 

 of beggars and devotees /^^?e2»B*«^t^^^ 

 i^es^r^^^ek^^mff^ are to be . seen in every town and 

 village in this country : indeed, it has been estimated, that 

 an eighth of the Hindoo population subsist by mendicity ; for 

 not only the lame, the blind, and the sickly go about beg- 

 ging ; but various sects have at different periods, formed 

 themselves into associations or societies, passing their 

 lives in Mhutts or monasteries worshipping particular deities, 

 and visiting sanctified places of pilgrimage, being entirely 

 supported by the eleemosynary donations of the rest of the 

 inhabitants. 



In the following pages a short account is given of the sect 

 of Maun Bhows. or the black clothed mendicant devotees : 

 who are dispersed over the country lying between the Syad- 

 ray chain of hills (the elevated range which separates the 

 Konkan from the Dekhan) and the eastern limits of the Be- 

 rar country : and the Kistna river and the northern boun- 

 dary of Malwa : a few of the sect are also to be found in the 

 Punjab. -r X * Y 



It may be observed here, that this sect of religious men- 

 dicants, appear to partake much of the character of the 

 Franciscans, and the Benedictines, &c. particularly of the 

 Canobite monks who lived in community under superiors in 

 the same dwelling ; and of the Sarabaites who wandered from 

 place to place. 



The history of the origin of the fraternity of Maun Bhows, 

 is like that of almost all other sects in India, involved in ob- 

 scurity and fable. By the Brahmins they are considered an 

 heretical and most degraded caste : the Brahmins wish it to 

 be believed that they not only are of modern origin, but also 

 are the offspring of a female of the Maug tribe (one of the 

 vilest of the degraded classes) who resided in a Brahmin's 

 house ; and on which account the Brahmin (Kishen Bhutt) 



