The caste is divided into the following subcastes: Dakhne, Khāndeshe and Berārya, or those belonging to the Deccan, Khāndesh and Berār; Ghodke, those who tend horses; Dafle, tom-tom players; Uchle, pickpockets; Pindāri, descendants of the old freebooters; Kakarkādhe, stone-diggers; Holer, hide-curers; and Garori. The Garoris[3] are a sept of vagrant snake-charmers and jugglers. Many are professional criminals.
Māng musicians with drums
3. Marriage
The caste is divided into exogamous family groups named after animals or other objects, or of a titular nature. One or two have the names of other castes. Members of the same group may not intermarry. Those who are well-to-do marry their daughters very young for the sake of social estimation, but there is no compulsion in this matter. In families which are particularly friendly, Mr. Sāthe remarks, children may be betrothed before birth if the two mothers are with child together. Betel is distributed, and a definite contract is made, on the supposition that a boy and girl will be born. Sometimes the abdomen of each woman is marked with red vermilion. A grown-up girl should not be allowed to see her husband’s face before marriage. The wedding is held at the bride’s house, but if it is more convenient that it should be in the bridegroom’s village, a temporary house is found for the bride’s party, and the marriage-shed is built in front of it. The bride must wear a yellow bodice and cloth, yellow and red being generally considered among Hindus as the auspicious colours for weddings. When she leaves for her husband’s house she puts on another or going-away dress, which should be as fine as the family can afford, and thereafter she may wear any colour except white. The distinguishing marks of a married woman are the mangal-sūtram or holy thread, which her husband ties on her neck at marriage; the garsoli or string of black beads round the neck; the silver toe-rings and glass bangles. If any one of these is lost, it must be replaced at once, or she is likely soon to be a widow. The food served at the wedding-feast consists of rice and pulse, but more essential than these is an ample provision of liquor. It is a necessary feature of a Māng wedding that the bridegroom should go to it riding on a horse. The Mahārs, another low caste of the Marātha Districts, worship the horse, and between them and the Māngs there exists a long-standing feud, so that they do not, if they can help it, drink of the same well. The sight of a Māng riding on a horse is thus gall and wormwood to the Mahārs, who consider it a terrible degradation to the noble animal, and this fact inflaming their natural enmity, formerly led to riots between the castes. Under native rule the Māngs were public executioners, and it was said to be the proudest moment of Māng’s life when he could perform his office on a Mahār.
The bride proceeds to her husband’s house for a short visit immediately after the marriage, and then goes home again. Thereafter, till such time as she finally goes to live with him, she makes brief visits for festivals or on other social occasions, or to help her mother-in-law, if her assistance is required. If the mother-in-law is ill and requires somebody to wait on her, or if she is a shrew and wants some one to bully, or if she has strict ideas of discipline and wishes personally to conduct the bride’s training for married life, she makes the girl come more frequently and stay longer.
4. Widow marriage
The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a widow may marry any one except persons of her own family group or her husband’s elder brother, who stands to her in the light of a father. She is permitted, but not obliged, to marry her husband’s younger brother, but if he has performed the dead man’s obsequies, she may not marry him, as this act has placed him in the relation of a son to her deceased husband. More usually the widow marries some one in another village, because the remarriage is always held in some slight disrepute, and she prefers to be at a distance from her first husband’s family. Divorce is said to be permitted only for persistent misconduct on the part of the wife.
5. Burial
The caste always bury the dead and observe mourning only for three days. On returning from a burial they all get drunk, and then go to the house of the deceased and chew the bitter leaves of the nīm tree (Melia indica). These they then spit out of their mouths to indicate their complete severance from the dead man.