Note 61 — D

Donga Dāsari.—Dāsari (servant of the god), Mr. Francis writes,61 “in the strict sense of the word, is a religious mendicant of the Vaishnavite sect, who has formally devoted himself to an existence as such, and been formally included in the mendicant brotherhood by being branded on the shoulders with Vaishnavite symbols.” Far different are the Donga, or thief Dāsaris, who receive their name from the fact that “the men and women disguise themselves as Dāsaris, with perpendicular Vaishnava marks on their foreheads, and, carrying a lamp (Garuda kambum), a gong of bell-metal, a small drum called jagata, and a tuft of peacock feathers, go begging in the villages, and are at times treated with the sumptuous meals, including cakes offered to them as the disciples of Venkatēsvarlu.62”