Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/341

Rh a performance by any of the others. The Sānis do not admit this claim, but they do not mind dancing after the Bōgams, or in their presence. All the other classes are admittedly inferior to the Sānis and the Bōgams. The Sānis would scorn to eat with any of the other dancing castes. The Sāni women are not exclusively devoted to their traditional profession. Some of them marry male members of the caste, and live respectably with them. The men do not, as among the dancing castes of the south, assist in the dancing, or by playing the accompaniments or forming a chorus, but are cultivators and petty traders. Like the dancing-girls of the south, the Sānis keep up their numbers by the adoption of girls of other castes. They do service in the temples, but they are not required to be formally dedicated or married to the god, as in the Tamil country. Those of them who are to become prostitutes are usually married to a sword on attaining puberty."

Sāni, meaning apparently cow-dung, occurs as a sub-division of the Tamil Agamudaiyans.  Sanjōgi.— The Sanjōgis are an Oriya class of religious mendicants, who wear the sacred thread, and act as priests for Pānos and other lowly people. The name indicates connection, and that they are the connecting link between ordinary people and those who have given up earthly pleasures (Sanyāsis). The Sanjōgis follow the ordinary as well as the ascetic life. Mr. G. Ramamurti Pantulu informs me that they are believed to be the offspring of ascetics who have violated their vow of celibacy, and women with whom they have lived. They make and sell bead rosaries of the sacred tulsi or basil (Ocimum sanctum) which are worn by various Oriya castes. Some are cultivators, while others are beggars. A Sanjōgi beggar goes about with a bell 