"In the Telugu districts, the dancing-girls are called Bogams and Sanis. They are supposed to be dedicated to the gods, just as the Dasis are, but there is only one temple in the northern part of the Presidency which maintains a corps of these women in the manner in vogue further south. This exception is the shrine of Sri Kurmam in Vizagapatam, the dancing-girls attached to which are known as Kurmapus. In Vizagapatam most of the Bogams and Sanis belong to the Nagavasulu and Palli castes, and their male children often call themselves Nagavasulus, but in Nellore, Kurnool and Bellary they are often Balijas and Yerukalas. In Nellore the Bogams are said to decline to sing in the houses of Komatis. The men of the Sanis do not act as accompanists to their women at nautch parties, as Bogam and Dasi men do. "In the Oriya country the dancing-girl caste is called Guni, but there they have even less connection with the temples than the Bogams and Sanis, not being even dedicated to the god. "In the Canarese (or western) taluks of Bellary, and in the adjoining parts of Dharwar and Mysore, a curious custom obtains among the Boyas, Bedarus, and certain other castes, under which a family which has no male issue must dedicate one of its daughters as a Basavi. The girl is taken to a temple, and married there to the god, a tali and toe-rings being put on her, and thenceforward she becomes a public woman, except that she does not consort with any one of lower caste than herself. She is not, however, despised on this account, and indeed at weddings she prepares the tali (perhaps because she can never be a widow). Contrary to all Hindu Law, she shares in the family property as though she was a son, but her right to do so has not yet been confirmed by the Civil Courts. If she has a son, he takes her father's name, but if only a daughter, that daughter again becomes a Basavi. The children of Basavis marry within their own caste, without restrictions of any kind. "In Malabar there is no regular community of dancing-girls; nor is there among the Mussalmans of any part of the Presidency." "No doubt," Monier Williams writes, [58] "Dasis drive a profitable trade under the sanction of religion, and some courtesans have been known to amass enormous fortunes. Nor do they think it inconsistent with their method of making money to spend it in works of piety. Here and there Indian bridges and other useful public works owe their existence to the liberality of the frail sisterhood." The large tank (lake) at Channarayapatna in Mysore was built by two dancing-girls.