The Dangi are a Hindu caste

Caste

Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...

 found in the states of Bihar

Bihar

Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

, Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh , often called the Heart of India, is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and Indore is the largest city....

, Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh

Himachal Pradesh is a state in Northern India. It is spread over , and is bordered by the Indian states of Jammu and Kashmir on the north, Punjab on the west and south-west, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh on the south, Uttarakhand on the south-east and by the Tibet Autonomous Region on the east...

, Hariyana, Gujarat, Uttrakhand, Maharastra, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand

Jharkhand

Jharkhand is a state in eastern India. It was carved out of the southern part of Bihar on 15 November 2000. Jharkhand shares its border with the states of Bihar to the north, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to the west, Orissa to the south, and West Bengal to the east...

, Punjab, and Nepal

Nepal

Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...

.

History and origin

The origin of the word Dangi cannot be entirely ascertained. However, according to Sir George Abraham Grierson

George Abraham Grierson

Sir George Abraham Grierson OM KCIE was born to a prominent Dublin family in 1851. His father and grandfather, both also named George, were well-known printers and publishers.-Biography:Educated at St...

, it refers to certain dialects spoken in the Dangis region, as well as the northern parts, where Dangi is spoken as a sub-dialect of Braj Bhasha. The movement of the Dangis from the Gangetic plain to southern Gujarat may well have been caused by the movement of Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a central figure of Hinduism and is traditionally attributed the authorship of the Bhagavad Gita. He is the supreme Being and considered in some monotheistic traditions as an Avatar of Vishnu...

 from Mathura to Dwarka

Dwarka

Dwarka also spelled Dvarka, Dwaraka, and Dvaraka, is a city and a municipality of Jamnagar district in the Gujarat state in India. Dwarka , also known as Dwarawati in Sanskrit literature is rated as one of the seven most ancient cities in the country...

 (as related to in the Mahabharata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

).

Eran

Eran

Eran is an ancient Indian historical city in Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh state. It can be called to be the oldest historical town of Sagar district in Madhya Pradesh. In earlier coins and inscriptions its name appears as Airikiṇa . From an early inscription at Sanchi we know that the...

 is an ancient village which is located in the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh. It is thought to be the oldest town in the Madhya Pradesh area. Inscriptions and coins from an earlier period that were found at the site also state that the village was known as Airikina. Eran is derived from erakā, which is a grass that grows in the Eran area and is also the name of a Nagavanshi

Nagavanshi

The Nagavanshi dynasty is one of the ancient Kshatriya dynasties of India. The Vedas do not mention Kshatriyas of either Suryavanshi, Chandravanshi, Nagavanshi, Agnivanshi or such Vanshas or lineages. The Puranas, of debatable dating, constructed such genealogies. The Puranas were supposedly...

 king descended from Kauravya. Eran contains a number of archaeoligical relics including the remains of a fort that was built by the Dangis, who used to control the area. An excavation carried out by the Department of Archeology at the University of Sagar unearthed relics showing that the village of Eran formed the northenmost limit of the Chalcolithic culture in Madhya Pradesh.

Present circumstances

The Dangi class has been subject to change with the opening of schools and universities. They have also started trading with the nearby mandi.

Before India gained independence, several battles were fought between the Dang and the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The biggest of these battles was fought at Lashkaria Amba where the kings of the five tribes managed to defeat the British. A compromise was sought and a treaty signed in 1842 that allowed the British to use the resources provided by the forests in exchange for 3000 silver coins paid to them. The kings are still offered a pension by the Government of India

Government of India

The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

despite such payments being stopped in 1970. The kings gather in Ahwa to receive the payment at the financial end of every year.