get themselves branded. The caste is more secular, and less religious than in the southern districts. A Dāsari of the North Arcot or Anantapur type, with conch-shell, metal gong, iron lamp, copper vessel, and metal image of Hanumān on his neck, is scarcely met with. The Vizagapatam Dāsaris are the most popular among ballad-singers, and sing songs about heroes and heroines, of which the following are the most appreciated: —
- 1. Bobbilipāta, which describes the siege and conquest of Bobbili by Bussy in 1757.
- 2. Ammi Nāyudupāta, which describes the tyrannical behaviour of one Ammi Nāyudu, a village headman in the Pālkonda tāluk, who was eventually murdered, to the great relief of those subject to him, by one of his dependents.
- 3. Lakshmammapāta, which relates the life and death of Lakshmamma, a Velama woman, who went
against the mēnarikam custom of the caste, and was put to death by her husband.
- 4. Yerakammapērantalā-pāta, which recounts the story of one Yerakamma, who committed sati.
Yerakamma is the local goddess at Srungavarapukōta in the Vizagapatam district. The ballads sung about her say that she was the child of Dāsari 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 Sivarātri.
