Concerning the mendicants of Anantapur, Mr. W. Francis writes [49] that "the beggars who are most in evidence are the Dasaris. This community is recruited from several castes, such as the Kapus, Balijas, Kurubas, Boyas, and Malas, and members of it who belong to the last two of these (which are low in the social scale) are not allowed to dine with the others. All Dasaris are Vaishnavites, and admission to the community is obtained by being branded by some Vaishnavite guru. Thenceforward the novice becomes a Dasari, and lives by begging from door to door. The profession is almost hereditary in some families. The five insignia of a Dasari are the conch shell, which he blows to announce his arrival; the gong which he strikes as he goes his rounds; the tall iron lamp (with a cocoanut to hold the oil for replenishing it) which he keeps lighted as he begs; the brass or copper vessel (sometimes with the namam painted on it) suspended from his shoulder, in which he places the alms received; and the small metal image of Hanuman, which he hangs round his neck. Of these, the iron lamp is at once the most conspicuous and the most indispensable. It is said to represent Venkatesa, and it must be burning, as an unlighted lamp is inauspicious. Dasaris also subsist by doing puja (worship) at ceremonial and festival occasions for certain of the Hindu castes." In the Kurnool district, when a girl is dedicated as a Basavi (dedicated prostitute), she is not, as in some other parts of the country, married to an idol, but tied by means of a garland of flowers to the tall standard lamp (garudakambham) of a Dasari, and released by the man who is to receive her first favours, or by her maternal uncle.