Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/128

DARABALA '''Darabala. —''' Taken, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a sub-caste of Māla. It Is a common house-name among many Telugu castes.  Dārāla (thread). — An exogamous sept of Mādiga.  '''Darzi. —''' Darzi or Darjī is a Muhammadan occupational term, meaning tailor. "The east," it has been said,* " now sews by machinery. The name of Singer is known from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. In every bazaar in India one may see men — they are always men, not women — in turban or Mussalman cap, crouching over the needle-plate, and working the pedals." The value of the imports of sewing-machines rose, in British India, from Rs. 5,91,046 in 1901-02 to Rs. 10,06,625 in 1904-05.  '''Dās. —''' The title of Jain immigrants from Northern India, most of whom are established as merchants, and also of the Mahants of the Tirumala (Tirupati) temple, e.g., Balarām Dās, Bhagavān Dās.  '''Dāsari. — '''" Dāsari or Tādan," Mr. H. A. Stuart writes,† " is a mendicant caste of Vaishnavas, the reputed descendants of a wealthy Sūdra of one of the northern districts, who, being devoid of offspring, vowed that, should he be blessed with children, he would devote one to the service of his god. He subsequently had many sons, one of whom he named Dāsan (servant), and placed entirely at the service of the deity. Dāsan forfeited all claim to participate in his father's estate, and his offspring are therefore all beggars. "The caste, like that of the Sātānis, is reinforced by idle members of the lower Sūdra classes, who, being branded by the gurus of Tirupati and other shrines, become Dāsaris thereby. They usually wander about. 