Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Sonkari

by Edgar Thurston

Sonkari.-— The Sonkaris are a small class of Oriya lac bangle (sonka) makers in Ganjam and Vizagapatam, who should not be confused with the Telugu Sunkaris. The men are engaged in agriculture, and the women manufacture the bangles, chains, chāmaras (fly-flappers), kōlatam sticks (for stick play), and fans ornamented with devices in paddy (unhusked rice) grains, which are mainly sold to Europeans as curios. Sonkari girls are married before puberty. A man should marry his paternal aunt's daughter, but at the present day this custom is frequently disregarded. Brāhmans officiate at their marriages. The dead are cremated. The caste title is Pātro.