Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Dandāsi
Dandāsi.— The Dandāsis are summed up in the Ganjam Manual as being village watchmen, many of whom are great thieves. " It is curious," Mr. S. P. Rice Writes,*[1] " to find that the word Naiko [meaning leader or chief], which is corrupted into the Telugu Naidu, is the caste distinction of the lowest class, the village watcher and professional thief. This man, for all that his cognomen is so lofty, goes by the generic name of Dandasi. This word means worthy of punishment, and assuredly no appellation ever fitted its owner more completely than does this. He is the village policeman and the village thief, a curious mixture of callings." According to other versions, the name is derived from danda, a stick, and āsi, sword, from dandabādi, a stout bamboo stick, or from dandapāsi, stick and rope, in reference to the insignia of the Dandāsi's office.
A large number of criminals, undergoing punishment in Ganjam for robbery and thieving, are Dandāsis. The members of the caste, like the Tamil Kallans, believe that thieving is their traditional occupation, and, as such,regard it as justifiable. There is a legend that they adopted this occupation as their profession because their ancestors assisted the Pāndavas to escape from the lac fort which was constructed by the Kurus with a view to killing them, by digging a secret subterranean passage. According to another story, the Dandāsis are descended from the offspring of a clandestine amour of Krishna with Dhūthika, Rādha's handmaid. The Dandāsis perform an interesting ceremony of initiation into the profession of thieving, when a child is born. When it is three or five days old, the headman (Bēhara) is invited to attend. A breach is made in the wall, or beneath the door sill. Through this the infant is passed by the Bēhara three times, and received by some members of the family. Each time the Bēhara repeats the words "Enter, baby enter. May you excel your father! " The Dandāsis, when questioned concerning this custom, denied its existence, but some admitted that it was carried out in former days. An old woman stated that her grandchild was passed through a breach beneath the door, but was not inclined to enter into details.
A number of exogamous septs occur among the Dandāsis, of which the following may be noted. Members of the Santarāsi sept must avoid using mats made of the sedge which goes by this name. Kilalendias avoid touching the bamboo posts used by washermen to support the ropes on which cloths are hung to dry. They sacrifice a pig and seven fowls to their gods on the newmoon day, on which the head of a male child is first shaved. Diyāsis show special reverence for the sun, and cloths, mokkutos (forehead chaplets), garlands, and other articles to be used by the bride and bridegroom at a wedding, are placed outside the house, so that they may be exposed to it. Members of the Ekopothiriya sept are regarded as low in the social scale, and the following legend is narrated to account for this. A Dandāsi went, with his relations and friends, to the house of a Dandāsi of the Ekopothiriya sept, to arrange a marriage. The guests were hospitably received, and the prospective bride asked her father what kind of curry was going to be served to them. He replied that barikolora (backyard Momordica) *[2] was to be cooked. This aroused the curiosity of some of the guests, who went to the backyard, where, instead of Momordica, they saw several blood-suckers (lizards) running about. They jumped to the conclusion that these were what the host referred to as barikolora, and all the guests took their departure. Ekopothiriyas will not partake of food from the same plate as their grown-up children, even if a married daughter comes on a visit to them.
The Dandāsis worship various Tākurānis (village deities), e.g., Sankaithuni, Kulladankuni, Kombēsari and Kālimuki. The gods are either represented temporarily by brass vessels, or permanently by three masses of clay, into each of which a small bit of gold is thrust. When Bassia (mahuā) buds or mangoes are first eaten in their season, a sacrifice is made, and a goat and fowl are killed before the produce of the harvest is first partaken of.
The Dandāsis have a headman, called Bēhara, who exercises authority over several groups of villages, and each group is under a Nāyako, who is assisted by a Dondia. For every village there is a Bholloboya, and,in some places, there is an officer, called Boda Mundi, appointed by the Zamindar, to whom irregularities in the community have to be reported. When a woman is delivered of a still-born child, the whole family is under pollution for eleven days. The headman is then invited to attend, and presents are given to him. He sprinkles water over members of the family, and they are thereby freed from this pollution.
A certain portion of the property stolen by Dandāsis is set apart for the headman, and, like the Tamil Kallans and Maravans, they seem to have a blackmailing system. If a Dandāsi is engaged as a watchman, property is safe, or, if stolen, is recovered and restored to its owner.
Girls are married after puberty. A man may marry his maternal uncle's, but not his paternal aunt's daughter. The marriage ceremonies usually last three days, but are sometimes spread over seven days, in imitation of the higher castes. On the day (gondo sono) before the wedding day, seven new pots are brought from a potter's house, and placed in a room. Seven women throw Zizyphus jujuba leaves over them,and they are filled with water at a tank (pond). One of the pots must be carried by the sister-in-law of the bridegroom. A brass vessel is tied up, and worshipped. Towards evening, a fowl is sacrificed at an 'ant' hill. The bridegroom is shaved on this day by his sister's husband. Like other Oriya castes, the Dandāsis collect water at seven houses, but only from those of members of castes higher than their own. The pot containing this water is hung up over the marriage dais (bedi). On the wedding (bibha) day, the bridegroom sits on the dais, with the bride, seated in her maternal uncle's lap or at his side, in front of him. The headman, or some respected elder of the community, places a betel nut cutter, on, or with some rice and betel nut between the united hands of the contracting couple, and ties them together with seven turns of a turmeric-dyed thread. He then announces that .... the grand-daughter of ... . and daughter of .... is united to ... . the grandson of ... . and son of ... . The parents of the bride and bride-groom pour turmeric-water from a chank (Turbinella rapa) shell or leaf over their united hands. The nut-cutter is removed by the bride's brother, and, after striking the bridegroom, he goes away. The couple then play with cowry (Cyprœ arabica) shells, and, while they are so engaged, the ends of their cloths are tied together, and the rice which is in their hands is tied in a knot. When the play is finished, this knot is untied, and the rice is measured in a small earthen pot, first on behalf of the bride, and is pronounced to be all right.It is then again measured, and said to have diminished in quantity. This gives rise to jokes at the expense of the bridegroom, who is called a thief, and other hard names. Those who imitate the ceremonial of the higher castes make the bridegroom go away in feigned anger, after he has broken the pot which is hanging over the dais. He is brought back by his brother-in-law.
On the occasion of the first menstrual period, a girl is under pollution for seven days. If she is engaged to be married, her future father-in-law makes her a present of jewels and money on the seventh day, and thereby confirms the marriage contract.
The dead are cremated. A widow accompanies the corpse of her husband to the boundary of the village, carrying a ladle and pot, which she throws down at the boundary, and returns home. On the day after the funeral, the embers are extinguished, and an effigy of the deceased is made on the spot where he was cremated, and food offered to it. Toddy is distributed among those who have assembled at the house. On the tenth day, food is offered on ten fragments of pots. On the eleventh day, if the dead man was an important personage in the community, a ceremony, corresponding to the jola jola handi of the higher castes, is performed. A cloth is spread on the ground, on the spot where the corpse was cremated, and the ground round it swept by women, whose backs are turned towards the cloth, so that they cannot see it. Two men, with swords or big knives, sit by the side of the cloth and wait till an insect settles on the cloth. They then at once put the swords or knives on the cloth, and, folding it up, place it on a new winnowing-basket. It is taken home, placed on the floor, and connected by means of a long thread with the household god (mass of clay or vessel). It is then shaken near the god, so that the insect falls out.
Dandāsi further occurs as a sub-division of the Kondras, the members of which have taken to the profession of village watchmen.