For the following note on Dasaris in the Vizagapatam district, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The caste is an endogamous unit, the members calling themselves Sankhu (or conch-blowing) Dasaris, and is divided into numerous exogamous septs. The menarikam custom, according to which a man should marry his maternal uncle's daughter, is followed. The remarriage of widows is permitted, but divorce is forbidden. The dead are cremated, and the chinna (small) and pedda rozu (big day) death ceremonies are observed. These Dasaris profess the Tengalai form of Vaishnavism, and get themselves branded. The caste is more secular, and less religious than in the southern districts. A Dasari of the North Arcot or Anantapur type, with conch-shell, metal gong, iron lamp, copper vessel, and metal image of Hanuman on his neck, is scarcely met with. The Vizagapatam Dasaris are the most popular among ballad-singers, and sing songs about heroes and heroines, of which the following are the most appreciated:-- 1. Bobbilipata, which describes the siege and conquest of Bobbili by Bussy in 1757. 2. Ammi Nayudupata, which describes the tyrannical behaviour of one Ammi Nayudu, a village headman in the Palkonda taluk, who was eventually murdered, to the great relief of those subject to him, by one of his dependents. 3. Lakshmammapata, which relates the life and death of Lakshmamma, a Velama woman, who went against the menarikam custom of the caste, and was put to death by her husband. 4. Yerakammaperantala-pata, which recounts the story of one Yerakamma, who committed sati. Yerakamma is the local goddess at Srungavarapukota in the Vizagapatam district. The ballads sung about her say that she was the child of Dasari parents, and that her birth was foretold by a Yerukala woman (whence her name), who prophesied that she would have the gift of second sight. She eventually married, and one day she begged her husband not to go to his field, as she was sure he would be killed by a tiger if he did. Her husband went notwithstanding, and was slain as she had foreseen. She committed sati on the spot where her shrine still stands, and at this there is a festival at Sivaratri. As ballad-singers, two Dasaris generally travel about together, begging from house to house, or at the weekly market, one singing, while the other plays, and joins in the chorus. The titles of these Dasaris are Anna and Ayya. Dasari has been recorded as an exogamous sept of the Koravas, Malas, and Yerukalas. Dasi (servant).--The name for a non-Brahman female attendant upon a Nambutiri Brahman woman, which should not, as sometimes happens, be confused with Deva-dasi, (q.v.), which has quite another significance.