Dogri

The dogri, singular dogir, are the malevolent water beings of Nubian belief, the dark counterpart to the benevolent aman-nooti. The word is uniform across the Nile Nubian dialects, and the beings are ranged alongside the jinn and ghul of the desert and mountains as dangers of the wild, watery margins. They attack, frighten and sicken people who are careless near the river, and they may be driven off by the ordinary apparatus of protection against jinn. John Kennedy, who devoted a chapter of the Nubian Ethnological Survey volume to them, described the dogir narratives as a peculiar amalgam of the many supernatural traditions of the region, drawing together Nubian, Egyptian and Islamic elements. Against them and against the evil eye, Nubian households mount stuffed crocodiles over their doors, a custom still visible in villages near Aswan.

Domains

• malevolence
• rivers and water
• disease and misfortune

Powers

• attacks and sickens those who linger at the water
• may be driven off by charms and holy words

Relations

• enemy: Aman-nootiKennedy (ed.), Nubian Ceremonial Life (1978), contrasting dogri with the benevolent aman-nooti (secondary)
• companion: Aman DogerAman Doger is counted among the malevolent water beings.Kennedy, 'Aman Doger: Nubian Monster of the Nile,' Journal of American Folklore 83 (1970) (secondary)

Sources

• The dogri (singular dogir) are dangerous supernatural water beings of the Nile, the term shared across all Nile Nubian dialects, comparable to the jinn and ghul of desert and mountain.: J. G. Kennedy, 'The Dogri: Evil Beings of the Nile,' in Kennedy (ed.), Nubian Ceremonial Life (1978), ch. 6 (secondary)
• Dogri stories form an amalgam of the region's supernatural beliefs and are countered by the same protective measures as jinn.: Kennedy, 'The Dogri: Evil Beings of the Nile,' in Kennedy (ed.), Nubian Ceremonial Life (1978) (secondary)