Dhani ( hi, ढाणी ') or Thok is a type of

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depi ...

, the smallest conglomeration of houses, in sandy

Bagar region Bagar, also Bagad (बागड़) and even Bar, a term meaning the "dry country",Nonica Datta The Tribune, 3 July 1999. refers to the sandy tract of north-western India and eastern parts of current Pakistan bordering India. For example, area no ...

of northwestern states of

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern s ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ...

and

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. Per

Census of India The decennial Census of India has been conducted 16 times, as of 2021. While it has been undertaken every 10 years, beginning in 1872 under British Viceroy Lord Mayo, the first complete census was taken in 1881. Post 1949, it has been conducted by ...

, 70% of Indians live in villages. 80% of the villages have a population of less than 1000 people and each consists of a cluster of hamlets (e.g. dhani, nesada, pada, bigha). Most dhanis are nucleated settlements, while others are more dispersed. A dhani could be as small as one isolated house for a single family or a small cluster of several houses which could grow in number with successive generations, and even become a village by itself. All families living in a dhani are relatives or at least are of the same

caste Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...

. An isolated collection of several of dhanis, which could be few hundred meters apart,Khoon Choy Lee, 1999
"A Fragile Nation: The Indonesian Crisis."
pp. 382. constitutes a

gram panchayat Gram Panchayat () is a basic village-governing institute in Indian villages. It is a democratic structure at the grass-roots level in India. It is a political institute, acting as cabinet of the village. The Gram Sabha work as the general bo ...

village community.S. H. M. Rizvi, 198
"Mina, the ruling tribe of Rajasthan: socio-biological appraisal."
pp. 34. A typical dhani in the arid zone of Rajasthan is a cluster of huts with a boundary (''bara'' or ''बाड़ा'') made of dried shrubs around it and with owners' livestock such as goats, sheep and camels inside the ''bara''.Ashutosh Goyal, 2015
"RBS Visitors Guide India - Rajasthan: Rajasthan Travel guide."
Data & Expo India Pvt Ltd, .Rann Singh Mann, K. Mann, 1989
"Tribal Cultures and Change."
pp. 23.Sunil Munshi, P. T. Girish, Anu Tandon, 199
"Pattu weaving of Western Rajasthan."
pp6.Chandana Saha, 2003
".Gender Equity and Equality: Study of Girl Child in Rajasthan"
Rawat Publications, pp257.Jessica Hines, 2014
"Looking for the Big B: Bollywood, Bachchan and Me"
Chpt.9.Karan
"Off the Beaten Path: Bishnoi Village, Jodhpur"Maharajas Express India
27 December 2013.C. Rosen, 2000
"World Resources 2000-2001: People and Ecosystems: The Fraying Web of Life."
UN Development Program, World Bank, pp. 185, . Dhani are atypically mud

hut A hut is a small dwelling, which may be constructed of various local materials. Huts are a type of vernacular architecture because they are built of readily available materials such as wood, snow, ice, stone, grass, palm leaves, branches, hid ...

s in Rajasthan. Houses in dani nowadays are made of modern brick and mortar, specially in affluent higher-per-capita-income states of Haryana and Punjab, and some richer families of Rajasthan. A hamlet is called "Nesada" (''નેસાડા'') in

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

, "Pada" (''पाडा'', for example

Nagpada Nagpada is a neighbourhood in South Mumbai. The place derives its name from a local Shiva temple, and abode of Naag or the snake wound around Shiva's neck. It has a community basketball court. In 2005, Nagpada was the location of the Sadaf ...

and

Patlipada Patlipada, previously a village in the Indian state of Maharashtra, is now a part of Thane city. It has a residential complex and the official residence of the Thane Municipal Commissioner. Geography Patlipada is located on the Ghodbunder Ro ...

) in Maharashtra, "

Bigha The bigha (also formerly beegah) is a traditional unit of measurement of area of a land, commonly used in India (including Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat ...

" (''बिघा'', for example Bhagan Bigha and Jhakar Bigha) in Bihar.

Etymology

The word

dhan Dhan is a village in the Tehsil of Jawali, Himachal Pradesh in India. As of the 2011 census, the village had a population of 1,878 persons in 399 households. The chief elected official is a Sarpanch. Attractions The Vaishno Devi Mandir i ...

(धन in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

, धण in

Haryanvi Haryanvi ( ' or '), also known as Bangru, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the state of Haryana in India, and to a lesser extent in Delhi. Haryanvi is considered to be part of the dialect group of Western Hindi, which also includes Kharib ...

and Rajasthani languages) means ''wealth'' or ''possession'',1997
"A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province"
vol 1, pp 50. and ''dhani'' means wealthy in English (''धनी'' in Hindi, ''धणी'' in Haryanvi and Rajasthani). Thus, in the context of a hamlet, the corrupted form of Hindi word ''dhani'' is pronounced ''dhaani'' (''ढाणी'')"Chokdi Dhani, the fine hamelt"
in Haryanvi and Rajasthani languages, which implies the ''"wealth or possessed settlement" (of the owner)''. Hence, Dahni's name usually have a prefix, such as ''"xyz's Dhani"'', where ''"xyz"'' is either the name or

gotra In Hindu culture, the term gotra (Sanskrit: गोत्र) is considered to be equivalent to lineage. It broadly refers to people who are descendants in an unbroken male line from a common male ancestor or patriline. Generally, the gotra ...

of founder-owner. Examples include Garodia Ki Dhani, Ghaslo Ki Dhani, Gujjaro ki Dhani, Meharon Ki Dhani, Navora Ki Dhani, Pujari Ki Dhani, Salamsingh Ki Dhani, Dhab Dhani and Nimakidhani. Example of gotra based dhani include

Dhab Poonia Dhab is a village in the Domchanch (community development block), Domchanch Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Koderma subdivision of the Koderma district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Jharkhand. Geo ...

Caste system

Usually there is one specific

(such as

Jat The Jat people ((), ()) are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region in late medieval times, and subseq ...

Gujjar Gurjar or Gujjar (also transliterated as ''Gujar, Gurjara and Gujjer'') is an ethnic nomadic, agricultural and pastoral community, spread mainly in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, divided internally into various clan groups. They were tradit ...

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

Meena Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the sta ...

, etc.) or more typically a specific

( Jaglan,

Dhillon Dhillon ( pronunciation: �i˨llõː is a tribe of Jats found in the Punjab region. Notable people who bear the name, who may or may not be affiliated with the tribe, include: * Amritpal Singh Dhillon, an Indian-born Canadian singer, rapper, ...

, Gehlot, etc.) of a particular caste that comprises all or the bulk of population of dhani.

Dhanis as origin of Chak

During the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi language, Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Q ...

when new canals were built to irrigate barren ( bangar, barani and

bagar tract Bagar, also Bagad (बागड़) and even Bar, a term meaning the "dry country",Nonica Datta The Tribune, 3 July 1999. refers to the sandy tract of north-western India and eastern parts of current Pakistan bordering India. For example, area no ...

) areas of

Punjab region Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

, to farm the land migrant farmers were brought in to settle into those areas around the core of new villages

hich started out as ''dhanis'' Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

Those new villages falling in under the irrigation of canals were given a unique '' chak'' number each and government left it to those residents to give each ''"chak"'' a proper village name later. Thus, the term ''"village"'' became synonymous with ''"chak"''.Randhir Singh, Sir William Roberts, 1932
An economic survey of Kala Gaddi Thamman (Chak 73 g. b. ) a village in the Lyallpur District of the Punjab

References

{{reflist

External links

Indian Environmental portal

District Level Availability Index

Rajasthani culture Types of populated places Rural geography

Etymology

Caste system

Dhanis as origin of Chak

See also

References

External links