Sarati.—A sept of Gond and Pardhān.
Sariyām.—A subsept of the Dhurwa clan of Gonds in Betūl, said to be so called because the road to the place of the gods was swept by their priests.
Sarolia or Sarwaria.—(Inferior or mixed.) Subcaste of Agharia.
Saroti.—A sept of Pardhāns said to be named after sarra, a whip, because their priest once struck a man with a whip.
Sarsatia.—(From the Sāraswati river.) Subcaste of Bahna.
Satani.[87]—A Telugu caste of priests and mendicants of which 900 persons were returned, principally from the Chānda District, in 1911. In the Central Provinces, Ayāwar, Sātani and Dāsari have been taken as one caste, but elsewhere they are considered as distinct. Ayāwar is a term of respect analogous to the Hindustāni Mahārāj, and is applied to the Sātanis and other religious orders. The Sātanis and Dāsaris are distinguished in Madras; Sātani is stated[88] to be a corruption of Sāttādavan, which means ‘One who does not wear’ (e.g. the sacred thread and scalp-lock). It is a mixed religious order recruited from any caste except the Pariahs, leather-workers and Muhammadans. The Dāsaris[89] are said to be the reputed descendants of a wealthy Sūdra of one of the northern Districts, who, being childless, vowed that if offspring should be granted to him he would devote a son to the service of the god. After this he had several children, one of whom he consecrated to the deity, calling him Dāsan (the obedient servant). Dāsan and his offspring made their livelihood by begging. This order, like that of the Sātanis, is reinforced by idle members of the lower Sūdra castes, who become Dāsaris by being branded by the Guru of Tirupatti and other shrines. In the Central Provinces the Dāsaris are stated to be recruited from the impure Māla caste of the Telugu country, and hence to rank below the Sātanis. Many of the Madrāsi servants in European households call themselves Dāsaris. Members of the agricultural castes are usually admitted into the Sātani order and its status is almost equal to theirs. The caste, in spite of its small numbers, has several subdivisions, as the Sāle Sātanis, who are weavers, the Bukkas, who are sellers of kunku or red powder, and five other subdivisions who are all beggars. Some of these eat together but do not intermarry. They have exogamous family groups, usually named after sacred places in Madras or celebrated Gurus (spiritual preceptors) or deities, as Tirupatti, Rāmanujamwār, Shāligrāmwār and so on. The caste marry in the ordinary way and do not observe celibacy. Widow-marriage is allowed, but a widow must marry a widower, and the officiating priest at the ceremony must also be a widower. The Sātanis principally revere Vishnu, whom they worship on Fridays. Their priests are taken from their own order and form a separate subcaste under the name of Parmastwār. A novice, on being initiated to the order, is branded with the figures of a Sankha (conch-shell) and Chakra (discus). They both burn and bury the dead, and the spirits of female as well as of male ancestors are propitiated. This is done by calling a married woman by the name of the dead female, putting red powder on her forehead and worshipping her. Among the Sātanis a widow accompanies the corpse of her husband to the grave. They officiate at funerals, and a Sātani priest applies the caste-mark to the body of the corpse and also to that of the four persons who are to carry it. He receives presents in the name of the dead man, and takes the red cloth with which the corpse is covered. At the funeral feast the Sātani offers cooked food, including flesh and also liquor, to the god, and the assembled guests then partake of them. The Sātani drinks liquor only and does not eat the food, and since he must stay to the end of the feast he sometimes becomes intoxicated. The Sātanis are priests and mendicants. Though they do not wear the sacred thread themselves, the manufacture of it is one of their hereditary occupations. They collect alms in a lota or brass vessel, on which representations of the conch and discus are drawn. The Dāsaris wander about, singing hymns to a monotonous accompaniment upon a leather instrument called tappai (perhaps a tabor). They are engaged by some Sūdra castes to sing their chants in front of the corpse at funerals. Others exhibit what is called the Panda sewai, that is, they become possessed by the deity and beat themselves over the body with a flaming torch. A few train young bulls to perform tricks and travel about exhibiting them. Some have become masons and goldsmiths. Men have the mark of the trident on the forehead, the two outer lines being white and the middle one red or yellow. They shave the head and face clean, not retaining the scalp-lock. Women have a vertical streak on the forehead and do not wear glass bangles nor the necklace of black beads. Neither men nor women are tattooed. The Sātanis have a fairly good social position and the lower castes will take food from them.
Satbhuiyān or Utār.—Subcaste of Khond.
Satdeve.—A clan of Gonds worshipping seven gods and paying special reverence to the porcupine.
Satghare.—(Seven houses.) A division of the Marātha caste, consisting of seven of the highest clans who marry among themselves and sometimes take daughters from the other ninety-six clans.
Satnāmi.—A religious sect, which now practically forms a subcaste of Chamār.