==========+=======
Districts.|Number.
~~~~~~~~~~+~~~~~~~
Bareilly | 2,009
Bijnor | 23
Morâdâbâd | 29
Pilibhît | 6
Gorakhpur | 1
Tarâi | 165
+~~~~~~~
Total | 2,233
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Dângi. [276]—An agricultural tribe found chiefly in Jhânsi. The caste
professes to derive its name from a certain Râja Dang, a Raghubansi
Râjput, from whom they trace descent; but the word probably means no
more than “hill-man” (Hindi, dang, “a hill”). They profess to be
immigrants from a place called Nirver, in the Gwâlior State, with
which, however, they appear to hold no connection by marriage or
pilgrimage, selection of bards, priests, or barbers; and those at
present resident in the Jhânsi District have come chiefly within
comparatively recent times from the Datiya and Tîkamgarh States. They
have nothing in the way of a genealogical tree or traditions connected
with ancient sites or monuments which would throw any clear light on
their origin; but there seems good reason to suspect that they may be
connected with the Gond and similar races of the Central Indian
plateau.
[Sub-divisions.] 2. They have no sub-tribes, but are divided into a
number of exogamous gotras, among which we find in Jhânsi the Patra,
Nirveriya, Disauriya, Chakauriya, Madhpuriya, Dhauriya, and Pariya. Of
these the Nirveriya is derived from Nirver, their original settlement,
and though local enquiries have failed to explain the meaning of the
other terms, they are probably of similar local origin. Of the
sixty-seven names given in the Census lists very few can be connected
with those of other tribes, except perhaps the Basoriya, Luniya,
Niyâriya, Pahriya, and Sarwariya. The others appear to be of purely
local origin, and this would lead to the inference that the tribe has
been little, if at all, exposed to foreign influence.
[Tribal council.] 3. There is no regular tribal council; but there are
certain persons who are regarded in each group of villages as headmen
(mukhiya), and they assemble a meeting of the adult householders
whenever a case occurs demanding enquiry. They deal principally with
questions of marriage, excommunication, and restoration to caste
privileges.
[Marriage rules.] 4. Marriage is forbidden between members of the same
gotra and between first cousins. There are no prohibitions of
intermarriage based on difference of social status, geographical or
local position, worship or occupation. But intermarriage of persons
belonging to different religions is not permitted. When the bride
arrives at her husband’s house, his kinsmen make her small presents,
which are known as muchâi or munhdikhâi, “the showing of her face.”
There is no restriction on the number of wives: a man marries as many
as he can afford to keep. All the wives are much on the same footing;
but the first wife is known as Jethi or senior, and is held in more
respect in the family than those junior to her. They all live together
unless they quarrel, which is very unusual: in fact the senior wife
often urges her husband to marry again, as she thus obtains an
assistant in house and field work. North of the River Betwa at least
concubinage is permitted. Polyandry is prohibited. Little girls are
allowed a considerable amount of freedom; but if an unmarried girl is
detected in immorality, she is excommunicated, and her whole family as
well, unless they discard her. The age for marriage is, for girls seven
or eight; for boys twelve or thirteen. After betrothal the engagement
is not voidable on account of disease or physical defect. The match is
arranged by the parents, but those a little higher in the social scale
employ a Brâhman and barber. The consent of the parents is absolutely
necessary, and the parties have no freedom of choice. No price is paid
for either bride or bridegroom, but when the betrothal (tîka) is being
performed, the friends of the bride are expected to give the boy a
present. Even idiocy, lunacy or impotence appearing after marriage are
not grounds for annulling it. Divorce is permitted on the ground of
adultery in the wife. It is generally done by word of mouth, and the
woman is turned out of the house. But usually, even if there be no
regular tribal enquiry, the husband does not divorce his wife without
taking the opinion of four or five of the leading clansmen in an
informal way. A divorced woman cannot be remarried in the regular way,
but another man may take her as his concubine, in which case he must
give a dinner (roti) to the clansmen. Children by concubines, provided
that they are women of the caste, have the same rights as offspring by
regular marriages; but children who are the result of illicit
connections which have not been condoned, or whose mothers were not
members of the caste, are not admitted to tribal privileges and cannot
marry in the caste.
[Widow marriage.] 5. Remarriage of widows is prohibited; but a man may
take a widow of the caste to live with him without any ceremony, except
the assent of the leading clansmen and the giving of a tribal feast.
The levirate is allowed with the usual limitation, that it is only the
younger brother who can claim the woman. But the widow is not compelled
to live with her brother-in-law, and may set up house with an outsider,
in which case the children of her first husband remain with his
relations, and she loses all rights of maintenance in the household of
her former husband. Her children by the first husband inherit his
estate. If the first husband was childless his brothers inherit. There
is no fiction that the children by the levir are supposed to belong to
his dead brother.
[Birth ceremonies.] 6. There are no special observances during
pregnancy. The Chamârin midwife attends and cuts the cord. During
accouchement the mother adopts a sitting posture, and is held by the
women of the family. After parturition is over the wife of the village
barber acts as nurse. On the Dashtaun or tenth day the clansmen and
friends are fed; the relations of the mother send her presents (pûch)
and soaked gram is distributed. There is no indication of the couvade.
For ten days the women and her relations are considered impure and are
not allowed to touch other people or engage in worship of the gods.
There are no special customs in connection with twins.
[Adoption. Puberty.] 7. There is no special ritual in force at
adoption. The clan people are invited; the men are fed on sweets and
the women on soaked gram. There are no observances at the attainment of
puberty.
[Marriage ceremonies.] 8. The person who goes to the boy’s house to
arrange the betrothal gives a cocoanut, some money, and a packet of
betel (pân). This is the binding part of the ceremony, and the
betrothal is then irreversible. Betrothal generally takes place when
the girl is five or six years of age, and the consent of both parents
is essential. There is no rule for the repayment of the expenses if the
marriage does not take place.
9. Seven days before the actual marriage ceremony the bride’s father
sends a letter (lagan ki chitthi) to the bridegroom’s father fixing the
date and hour of the marriage. A sum of money already agreed on
accompanies this letter. When the procession starts to fetch the bride,
they halt outside her village at a place prepared for them called the
Janwânsa. In the evening they march in procession to the bride’s house,
being met half-way by her friends. At the door the tîka ceremony is
performed, and another present in money equal to that sent with the
lagan is made to the bridegroom. The bridegroom is then taken inside,
where he throws a fan on the marriage shed (mandap) and returns to his
party. Next day, after the dinner, and generally at night, the actual
Bhanwar or perambulation of the bride and bridegroom round the sacred
fire and the “giving away” of the girl (kanyâdân) are performed. The
parents of the bride are not allowed to be present at the Bhanwar
ceremony. On the third day the third dinner (roti) is given, and the
ceremony of permitting the girl to go with her husband (bidâi) is done.
Here, again, the bride’s father makes a third present equal in value to
the previous two, which is known as bela or “cup.” It is optional with
the parties to perform the ceremony of changing the seats of the
married pair (lautpatta). In case this ceremony is performed at the
marriage it is not necessary to repeat it when the bride is leaving for
her husband’s house. If done, then it is known as Chauka, and the
presents made at it by the father of the bride must equal in value half
the presents made at the marriage. The binding part of the marriage
ceremony is the perambulations round the fire and the giving away of
the bride. The only apparent survival of marriage by capture is the
ceremony of tîka or darwâza performed the first day. In this his
maternal uncle takes the bridegroom in his arms inside the house of the
bride, and there he strikes the marriage hut with a fan. As he is going
away the women of the family beat the man who is carrying him with
their fists and shout, “He has struck the mandap and is going away.”
[Death ceremonies.] 9. The dead are cremated and the ashes finally
consigned to the Ganges. Immediately after death the corpse is covered
with a piece of calico, white for men and red for women, and a few pân
leaves are put over the head and breast. No offerings are made, nor is
the body washed at the house. When they reach the cremation ground
(ghât) a fire is lighted and the corpse laid with the head facing the
south. Offerings of sesamum (til) and barley are made, and sesamum,
barley and honey placed on the eyes of the corpse. The pyre is then lit
by the heir, and he finally breaks the skull (kapâl kriya) to release
the spirit. On the third day the relatives and clansmen are shaved. In
the case of males the obsequies go on for thirteen days, and on the
last day at least thirteen Brâhmans or more are feasted. The usual
Srâddha is performed at the Kanâgat or Pitrapaksha in the month of
Kuâr. It is incumbent on the headman of the family during each of the
sixteen days to pour a libation of water in honour of his deceased
ancestors before he touches food or drink. The death ceremonies are
carried out by the family priest, and in his absence by any Brâhman.
There is no trace of the sister’s son or other relatives on the female
side exercising religious functions.
[Purification.] 10. The rules of ceremonial purification are carefully
obeyed. Thus, if a person commit suicide on account of the misconduct
of another, the offender is rigorously boycotted and is considered to
bear the guilt (hatya) of the death. The same is the case with a man
who has killed a cow, buffalo, or cat. The impurity after child-birth
lasts for ten days. The death impurity lasts for ten days, except in
the case of infants, when it is reduced to three days. The period of
menstrual impurity extends to five days. The impurity due to death,
child-birth, and menstruation is removed by the performance of the
stated ceremonies, and by bathing after the expiration of the fixed
period. But in the case of impurity due, as above described, to suicide
or the killing of a cow, the matter is much more serious. The offender
in order to purify himself is obliged to bathe in the Ganges, to feed
the clansmen and Brâhmans, to perform the marriage ceremony of the
Tulasi plant and the Sâlagrâma, or to pay all the expenses of the
marriage of a pair of poor children in the caste. The interdict lasts
until this expiation is undergone.
[Religion.] 11. Dângis are Hindus and worship all the ordinary deities,
such as Râmchandra, Krishna, Mahâdeva, Durga, etc. They also worship
the village godlings. Thus Sîtala is worshipped in the months of Asârh,
Kuâr, and Chait, with an offering of boiled rice and cakes, pice and
cowries; the food is taken by a Brâhman, the cash by a Mâli. Hardaul,
the cholera godling, is worshipped in Asârh, and during epidemics of
the disease. His offerings are cakes, sweetmeats, and packets of betel.
All these things, except the cakes, are taken by a Brâhman. Sîtala has
usually a regular masonry shrine, while Hardaul has only a platform.
These deities are chiefly worshipped by women and children, adult males
seldom visit their shrines. At marriages they propitiate the sainted
dead, whom they call deva pitra, but they have no definite idea of
their nature or functions. An old snake represents Bhûmiya or the
godling of the hamlet, and is worshipped in the month of Asârh
(June–July). Their sacred trees are the pîpal (Ficus religiosa) and the
chhonkar (Prosopis spicigera). Evil spirits (bhût, pret) are
propitiated in cases of sickness supposed to be due to demoniacal
agency. It is said that Brâhmans have no objection to eating pakki roti
from the hands of Dângis. Their priests are Dûbê or Tiwâri Brâhmans,
and are received on the same footing as other Brâhmans. Sometimes they
have a Guru in addition to a Purohit; sometimes the same man fulfils
both functions. They have a special festival known as the maur chhût or
“loosing of the marriage crown,” when in the month of Bhâdon the
marriage crown of a pair who have been married during the year is
thrown into the water. The only festival at which drunkenness is
permitted is the Holi. The cows of the family are worshipped at the
Diwâli and horses at the Dasahra.
[Oaths and exorcism.] 12. Oaths are made in the name of the Ganges and
the Tulasi plant; in the name of the gods; by holding a lota full of
Ganges water; by holding a son or grandson in the arms; by going to a
shrine and opening the door at the time of swearing. Taking a false
oath involves loss of property, disease, and death. Exorcism of evil
spirits is in the hands of the Syâna, or “cunning man.” Sickness due to
the Evil Eye is relieved by waving some mustard and salt round the head
of the patient, and then throwing it into the fire.
Social rules.
13. Meat is forbidden; some will not eat onions. They will not touch a
Bhangi or Basor, or a person guilty of Hatya, as above described. Women
are not allowed to touch the Sâlagrâma, and children under ten are not
permitted to join in any religious celebration. They observe the usual
taboo against the wife calling her husband by his name. It is said that
at the Akhtîj festival, on the third of the light half of Baisâkh, the
wife, in order to bring luck on the house, is obliged to call her
husband once by his name. They abstain from wine, the flesh of monkeys,
beef, pork, flesh of cloven-footed and uncloven-footed animals, fowls,
fish, and all kinds of vermin. The head of the family does not eat the
baingan or egg-plant (Solanum melongena) from Asârh till the Deouthân
feast in Kârttik, and this vegetable is not eaten on the eleventh day
of the light and dark fortnights in each month. Women and men eat
apart, and before eating two morsels are offered to the gods with
folded hands, and a libation of water is poured on the ground. The use
of intoxicating drugs is not forbidden, but excess use of them is
considered disgraceful.
[Salutation.] 14. Their form of salutation is Râm! Râm! with the hand
raised to the forehead.
[Food.] 15. They will eat close to Ahîrs, but not out of the same dish.
They will take food cooked by a Brâhman and will drink water from the
hands of a Mâli, Kâchhi, Dhîmar, or Nâu. They will not smoke out of the
pipe of a Basor, Bhangi, or Chamâr.
[Occupation.] 16. The Dângis are ordinary cultivators and practise no
handicrafts.