296 P. N. Bose — Ohhattisgar : notes on its tribes, sects and castes, [No. 3, 
After tliree days the head is shaved entirely by near, and partly by re- 
mote, relations. The kinsfolk assemble at the house of the deceased 
and squatting round a raised dais (called chaufca) sing sacred songs. 
The Man Bhdu Sect. 
This sect is similar to the Kabirpanthi and Satnami sects, in that 
they all abstain from flesh and spirituous di'itik and disregard caste. 
The Miiu Bhdus believe in Vishnu, and the Bhagavadgita is their sacred 
book. They are, in fact, Vaishnavas. There are monks and nuns who 
are vowed to celibacy ; but the larger number are Grihasthas, i. e., house- 
holders. The followers of the sect are most numerous in Berar. In 
Ohhattisgar there are not many, and those I met are all householders. 
The Katias (a weaver caste) appear to have been converted en masse ; 
there are also followers of Man Bhau amongst the Telis, Kunbis, &c. 
I was told, that their guru lives at some place near Eamtek in the dis- 
trict of Nagpur. The process of conversion is very simple, consisting in 
blowing the mantra into the ear of the person who desires to be initiated. 
In Ohhattisgar, Brahmans are respected by the Man Bhdus, and I 
did not notice any ill-feeling between the two which is said to exist in 
Berar.* 
Kunhi. 
An essentially agricultural class, allied to the next caste the Kur- 
mi. In the last census returns the number of the latter for the dis- 
tricts of Raipur and Bilaspur is given as 99,620. But the Kunbi is not 
separately mentioned, and must be included in this number. 
A good many of the Kunbis belong to the Man Bhau sect just de- 
scribed. They worship Vishnu, abstain from flesh food and intoxicating 
liquors, and bury their dead. The others worship Mahddeo, eat goat’s 
flesh and flsh, and practise cremation. The two classes can intermarry 
if they belong to the same clan. 
There are two clans, — 1, the Jharid ; 2, Puroli, the former being, 
as the name signifies, restricted to the jungles, and the latter to the 
plain country. The division is evidently due to habitat. The two clans 
do not intermarry. 
Those who practise cremation preserve a few bones, and, in the 
case of the old and W'ell to do, take them to some sacred place and 
deposit them there. Bones are so deposited in the Mahdnadi at Rajim, 
and in a stream called the Narbada near Chuikhaddn. 
Caste men are fed 10 days after death. 
Kurmi. 
Allied to the Kunbi. 
Gots: Charndha, Manaha, Singror, Pdtaria. 
* (gazetteer of Barar, quoted by Sherring, op, cit. Vol. II, p. 164. 
