Dhed.—Synonym for Mahār.
Dhengar.—A subcaste of Bharewa (Kasār) and Gadaria.
Dhera.[33]—A small Telugu caste of weavers, the bulk of whom reside in the Sonpur State, transferred to Bengal in 1905. The Dheras were brought from Orissa by the Rāja of Sonpur to make clothes for the images of the gods, which they also claim to be their privilege in Puri. Their exogamous groups are named after animals, plants or other objects, and they practise totemism. The members of the Sūrya or sun group will not eat during an eclipse. Those of the Nalla (black) sept will not wear black clothes. Those of the Bansethi and Bhanala septs will not use the bandi, a kind of cart from which they consider their name to be derived. The Otals take their name from utti, a net, from which pots are hung, and they will not use this net. Those of the Gunda sept, who take their name from gunda, a bullet, will not eat any game shot with a gun. Marriage within the sept is prohibited, but the Dheras always, where practicable, arrange the marriage of a boy with his maternal uncle’s daughter. Even in childhood the members of such families address each other as brother-in-law and sister-in-law. When the bridegroom and bride go home after the marriage ceremony, the bridegroom’s sister bars the door of the house and will not let them in until they have severally promised to give her their daughter for her son. A girl must be married before arriving at adolescence on pain of permanent exclusion from the caste. If a suitable husband has not therefore been found when the period approaches, the parents marry the girl to her elder sister’s husband or any other married man. She is not bound to enter into conjugal relations with the man to whom she is thus united, and with his consent she may be consequently married to any other man in the guise of a widow. If a bachelor takes such a girl to wife, he must first be married to a sahara tree (Streblus asper). When a betrothal is arranged, an elderly member of the bridegroom’s family proceeds to the bride’s house and asks her people three times in succession whether the betrothal is arranged, and at each reply in the affirmative ties a knot in his cloth. He then goes home and in the bridegroom’s house solemnly unties the knots over another cloth which is spread on the ground. This cloth is then considered to contain the promises and it is wrapped up and carefully put away to keep them as if they were material objects.
Dherha.—(Brother-in-law or paternal aunt’s husband.) Title of Kharia.
Dhīmar.—A caste. Subcaste of Kori.
Dhimra.—Synonym for Dhīmar.
Dhobi.—The caste of washermen. A sept of Bharia and Bhaina.
Dhokhede.—One of doubtful parentage. A sept of Teli.
Dholewār.—(From dhola, a drum.) A subcaste of Bhoyar and Gaoli. A section of Basor.
Dholi.—(A minstrel.) Subcaste of Bhāt.