Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/189

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161
DHARMARAJA

Dhakkado usually follows the occupation of his mother's caste. Thus one whose mother is a Kevuto follows the calling of fishing or plying boats on rivers, one whose mother is a Bhumia is an agriculturist, and so on."

Dhakūr. — Stated, in the Manual of the Vizagapatam district, to be illegitimate children of Brāhmans, who wear the paieta (sacred thread).

Dhanapāla. — A sub-division of Gollas, who guard treasure while it is in transit,

Dhangar.— Dhangar, or Donigar, is recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a Marāthi caste of shepherds and cattle-breeders. I gather, from a note * [1]on the Dhangars of the Kanara district in the Bombay Presidency, that "the word Dhangar is generally derived from the Sanskrit dhenu, a cow. Their home speech is Marāthi, but they can speak Kanarese. They keep a special breed of cows and buffaloes, known as Dhangar mhasis and Dhangar gāis which are the largest cattle in Kanara. Many of Shivāji's infantry were Sātāra Dhangars."

Dhaniāla (coriander). — An exogamous sept of Kamma. Dhaniāla Jāti, or coriander caste, is an opprobrious name applied to Kōmatis, indicating that, in business transactions, they must be crushed as coriander fruits are crushed before the seed is sown.

Dhāre.— An exogamous sept of Kuruba. In the Canara country, the essential and binding part of the marriage ceremony is called dhāre (see Bant).

Dharmarāja.— An exogamous sept of the Irulas of North Arcot. Dharmarāja was the eldest of the five Pāndavas, the heroes of the Mahābhāratha.

  1. * Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, XV, Part I, 1883.