MANDOI

THE MANDOI (Mandi) were a short-lived tribe of Indian men who grew old and wrinkled almost as soon as they were born. They lived on a diet of locusts.

Mandi was an historical kingdom located in the foothills of the Himalayas. The ancient account, however, is entirely fanciful.

CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 24 (trans. Rackham) (Roman encyclopedia C1st A.D.) :
"Ctesias [Greek historian C5th B.C.] writes that also among a certain race of India the women bear children only once in their life time, and that the children begin to turn grey directly after birth." [N.B. The Greek phrase "to turn grey" means become old and wrinked.]

Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7. 28 :
"Crates of Pergamenus [Greek scholar C2nd B.C.] tells of Indians who . . . do not exceed forty years, this tribe adjoining the Macrobi (Long-Livers), whose women bear children only once. Agatharchides records this as well, and also that they live on locusts, and are very swift-footed. Clitarchus [Greek historian C3rd B.C.] gave them the name of Mandi; and Megasthenes [Greek historian C4th B.C.] also assigns them three hundred village, and says that the women bear children at age of seven and old age comes at forty."

SOURCES

ROMAN

• Pliny the Elder, Natural History - Latin Encyclopedia C1st A.D.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A complete bibliography of the translations quoted on this page.