Dhari, Dari
Dhari, Dari
This section has been extracted from THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
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A class of Mahomedan musicians, generally women, who play, sing, and dance, and are regarded by connoisseurs in such matters as superior to the Mirasan. The men do no work, and live on their wives' earnings. This, however, is perhaps a recent development resulting from their conversion to Islam, for when Buchanan wrote he found the Dhari in Behar employed in digging tanks and ditches, and collecting firewood. They ate pork and worshipped Bandi and Ham Thakur.
The Dharf in Oude,1 and the north-west provinces, are allied to the Nats and Kanjars, being musicians and sellers of dairy produce. In Bengal, however, this is the name of a class of Muhammadan musicians, generally women, who play, sing, and dance, being regarded by connoisseurs as more talented performers than the Mirasan. They are taught by masters in the large towns of Hindustan, and are engaged for a limited period by rich families in Dacca.
