Castes and Tribes of Southern India/Sāni
Sāni. — The Sānivāllu, who are a Telugu dancing-girl caste, are described, in the Vizagapatam Manual, as women who have not entered into matrimony, gain money by prostitution, and acting as dancers at feasts. Sāni is also a title of the Oriya Doluvas in Ganjam, who are said to be descended from Puri Rājas by their concubines. The streets occupied by Sānis are, in Ganjam, known as Sāni vīdhi. I have heard of missionaries, who, in consequence of this name, insist on their wives being addressed as Ammāgaru instead of by the customary name Dorāsani.
In a note on the Sānis of the Godāvari district, Mr. F. R. Hemingway writes as follows. " In this district, dancing-girls and prostitutes are made up of six perfectly distinct castes, which are in danger of being confused. These are the Sānis proper, Bōgams, Dommara Sānis, Turaka Sānis, Mangala Bōgams, and Mādiga Bōgams. Of these, the Bōgams claim to be superior, and will not dance in the presence of, or after a performance by any of the others. The Sānis do not admit this claim, but they do not mind dancing after the Bōgams, or in their presence. All the other classes are admittedly inferior to the Sānis and the Bōgams. The Sānis would scorn to eat with any of the other dancing castes. The Sāni women are not exclusively devoted to their traditional profession. Some of them marry male members of the caste, and live respectably with them. The men do not, as among the dancing castes of the south, assist in the dancing, or by playing the accompaniments or forming a chorus, but are cultivators and petty traders. Like the dancing-girls of the south, the Sānis keep up their numbers by the adoption of girls of other castes. They do service in the temples, but they are not required to be formally dedicated or married to the god, as in the Tamil country. Those of them who are to become prostitutes are usually married to a sword on attaining puberty."
Sāni, meaning apparently cow-dung, occurs as a sub-division of the Tamil Agamudaiyans.