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[45] 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.
Dhippo (light).—An exogamous sept of Bhondāri. The members thereof may not blow out lights, or extinguish them in any other way. They will not light lamps without being madi, i.e., wearing silk cloths, or cloths washed and dried after bathing.
Dhōbi.—A name used for washerman by Anglo-Indians all over India. The word is said to be derived from dhōha, Sanskrit, dhāv, to wash. A whitish grey sandy efflorescence, found in many places, from which, by boiling and the addition of quicklime, an alkali of considerable strength is obtained, is called Dhōbi’s earth.[46] “The expression dhobie itch,” Manson writes,[47] “although applied to any itching ringworm-like affection of any part of the skin, most commonly refers to some form of epiphytic disease of the crutch or axilla (armpit).” The disease is very generally supposed to be communicated by clothes from the wash, but Manson is of opinion that the belief that it is contracted from clothes which have been contaminated by the washerman is probably not very well founded.
Dhōbi is the name, by which the washerman caste of the Oriyas is known. “They are said,” Mr. Francis writes,[48] “to have come originally from Orissa. Girls are generally married before maturity, and, if this is not possible, they have to be married to a sword or a tree, before they can be wedded to a man. Their ordinary marriage ceremonies are as follows. The bridal pair bathe in water brought from seven different houses. The bridegroom puts a bangle on the bride’s arm (this is the binding part of the ceremony); the left and right wrists of the bride and bridegroom are tied together; betel leaf and nut are tied in a corner of the bride’s cloth, and a myrabolam (Terminalia fruit) in that of the bridegroom; and finally the people present in the pandal (booth) throw rice and saffron (turmeric) over them. Widows and divorced women may marry again. They are Vaishnavites, but some of them also worship Kāli or Durga. They employ Bairāgis, and occasionally Brāhmans, as their priests. They burn their dead, and perform srāddha (annual memorial ceremony). Their titles are Chetti (or Mahā Chetti) and Bēhara.” The custom of the bridal pair bathing in water from seven different houses obtains among many Oriya castes, including Brāhmans. It is known by the name of pāni-tula. The water is brought by married girls, who have not reached puberty, on the night preceding the wedding day, and the bride and bridegroom wash in it before dawn. This bath is called koili pāni snāno, or cuckoo water-bath. The koil is the Indian koel or cuckoo (Eudynamis honorata), whose crescendo cry ku-il, ku-il, is trying to the nerves during the hot season.
The following proverbs[49] relating to washermen may be quoted:—