Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/164

DEVA-DASI temple is Saivite, and Ashtakshara if it is Vaishnavite, presents her with the cloth, and ties the tāli round her neck. The Nattuvan, or dancing-master, instructs her for the first time in his art, and a quantity of raw rice is given to her by the temple authorities. The girl, thus married, is taken to her house, where the marriage festivities are celebrated for two or three days. As in Brāhmanical marriages, the rolling of a cocoanut to and fro is gone through, the temple priest or an elderly Dāsi, dressed in male attire, acting the part of the bridegroom. The girl is taken in procession through the streets. "The birth of male children is not made an occasion for rejoicing, and, as the proverb goes, the lamp on these occasions is only dimly lighted. Inheritance is in the female line, and women are the absolute owners of all property earned. When a dancing -girl dies, some paddy and five fanams are given from the temple to which she was attached, to defray the funeral expenses. The temple priest gives a garland, and a quantity of ashes for decorating the corpse. After this, a Nampiyan, an Ōcchan, some Vellāla headmen, and a Kudikkari, having no pollution, assemble at the house of the deceased. The Nampiyan consecrates a pot of water with prayers, the Occhan plays on his musical instrument, and the Vellālas and Kudikkari powder the turmeric to be smeared over the corpse. In the case of temple devotees, their dead bodies must be bathed with this substance by the priest, after which alone the funeral ceremonies may proceed. The Kartā (chief mourner), who is the nearest male relative, has to get his whole head shaved. When a temple priest dies, though he is a Brāhman, the dancing- girl, on whom he has performed the vicarious marriage rite, has to go to his death-bed, and prepare the turmeric powder to be dusted over his corpse. The anniversary