Proverbs and sayings are an important part of our lives. Every fourth or fifth thing, you must have heard elders saying either local proverbs or idioms and sayings. These proverbs are also related to our daily life and they have some history. Today we will talk about one such proverb, which people use a lot.
If we talk about some popular proverbs, we all have heard the proverb ‘Chhamdi jaaye Dumri na jaaye’. You might have used it many times but do you know what is the meaning of ‘Dumri’ in this proverb? It is possible that some people know its meaning but there are many people who do not have any idea what is Dumri?
What is ‘Damri’ in ‘Skin may go, Dumri may not go’?
In villages and cities, phrases like ‘do kauri ki aukaat’, ‘do kauri ki baat’ are often heard. It means that which has no value. Then what is Damri, which is said to have more value than leather. Actually, Damri, like cowrie, was also a unit of money in the olden days. If we look at the category of rupees in the olden days, it used to start from a broken cowrie. Cowrie was made from a broken cowrie and damri was made from a cowrie. When this proverb was made, Damri must have been in circulation and its value would also be decent in the economic system. This is the reason why this proverb of not taking out Damri, i.e. money, from the pocket even when the leather i.e. one suffers a loss, was made, which is used for a miserly person.
Do you know that,
Once upon a time, broken cowrie was our currency, which had the lowest value. Three broken cowries made one cowrie and ten cowries made one Damri. In today’s colloquial speech, broken cowrie and Damri are also used as idioms, some examples of which are given below… pic.twitter.com/jOMDfPJHc8— NCIB Headquarters (@NCIBHQ) November 16, 2023