couple sit together while the nalagu ceremony of smearing them with sandal, and waving coloured water (arati), is performed. The two pots containing water are kept for forty days, and then examined. If the water remains sweet, and does not "teem with vermin," it is regarded as a good omen. The seed grains, too, should by this time have developed into healthy seedlings. Dammula.--Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a small class of Telugu beggars, and priests in the temples of village goddesses. Dandasi.--The Dandasis are summed up in the Ganjam Manual as being village watchmen, many of whom are great thieves. "It is curious," Mr. S. P. Rice writes, [45] "to find that the word Naiko [meaning leader or chief], which is corrupted into the Telugu Naidu, is the caste distinction of the lowest class, the village watcher and professional thief. This man, for all that his cognomen is so lofty, goes by the generic name of Dandasi. This word means worthy of punishment, and assuredly no appellation ever fitted its owner more completely than does this. He is the village policeman and the village thief, a curious mixture of callings." According to other versions, the name is derived from danda, a stick, and asi, sword, from dandabadi, a stout bamboo stick, or from dandapasi, stick and rope, in reference to the insignia of the Dandasi's office. A large number of criminals, undergoing punishment in Ganjam for robbery and thieving, are Dandasis. The members of the caste, like the Tamil Kallans, believe that thieving is their traditional occupation, and, as such, regard it as justifiable. There is a legend that they adopted this occupation as their profession because their ancestors assisted the Pandavas to escape from the lac fort which was constructed by the Kurus with a view to killing them, by digging a secret subterranean passage. According to another story, the Dandasis are descended from the offspring of a clandestine amour of Krishna with Dhuuthika, Radha's handmaid. The Dandasis perform an interesting ceremony of initiation into the profession of thieving, when a child is born. When it is three or five days old, the headman (Behara) is invited to attend. A breach is made in the wall, or beneath the door sill. Through this the infant is passed by the Behara three times, and received by some members of the family. Each time the Behara repeats the words "Enter, baby enter. May you excel your father!" The Dandasis, when questioned concerning this custom, denied its existence, but some admitted that it was carried out in former days. An old woman stated that her grandchild was passed through a breach beneath the door, but was not inclined to enter into details.