Note 15 — D.

Dhângar.—A Dravidian tribe found in some of the eastern districts of the Province.15 They are only shown in Gorakhpur, but there are certainly a few in the south of Mirzapur, who are, however, possibly not regular residents. According to Colonel Dalton “the Khurnkh or Orâons of Chutia Nâgpur are the people best known in many parts of India as Dhângar, a word that from its apparent derivation (dâng or dhâng, “a hill”) may mean any hill-man, but amongst several tribes of the southern tributary Mahâls the terms Dhângar and Dhângarin mean the youth of the two sexes both in highland and lowland villages, and it cannot be considered the national designation of any peculiar tribe.”16 According to Mr. Risley, Mr. Oldham says in a note on some historical and ethnical aspects of the Bardwân district that the Mâlê Pahariyas call their men of fighting age Dhângar or Dhângariya. The Mâlê are cognates of the Orâons, the typical Dhângar labourers of Chota Nâgpur, so that on this showing the word may well be nothing more than the Orâon for an adult. According to another interpretation the name has reference to the fact that persons working as Dhângars receive the bulk of their wages in unhusked rice (dhân).17 In Bilâspur, in the Central Provinces, they are regarded as a sub-division of the Kanwar, who are the largest sections of the aboriginal population next to the Gonds, and have there taken to wearing the Brâhmanical thread.18 In Sambalpur they are said to be emigrants from Chota Nâgpur,19 and in Sâranggarh they act as weavers and village watchmen.20 M. St. Martin very doubtfully connects them with the Tânk Râjputs, the Tangana of the Mahâbhârata, and the Tanganoi or Ganganoi of Ptolemy.21 The people known as Dhângar, in the Dakkhin,22 whose name is derived by Dr. J. Wilson from the Sanskrit dhenukâra, “dealer in cows,” are described as a quiet and innocent race of people who wander about with their flocks and herds. Their religion, manners, and language are to a great extent like those of the Kunbi, but the temples at which they worship are mere piles of large unhewn stones. The founder of the Holkar family of Mâlwa sprang from this race.23