Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/200

DOMB married couple repair to the home of the bridegroom. On the third day, they are bathed in turmeric water, a pig is killed, and a feast is held. On the ninth day, the knots in the cloths, containing the myrabolams, rice, and coins, are untied, and the marriage ceremonies are at an end. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother usually marries the widow of his elder brother. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam district, that "some of the Dōmbus of the Parvatipur Agency follow many of the customs of the low-country castes, including mēnarikam (marriage with the maternal uncle's daughter), and say they are the same as the Paidis (or Paidi Mālas) of the plains adjoining, with whom they intermarry."

The corpses of the more prosperous Dōmbs are usually cremated. The wood of the sunāri tree and relli (Cassia fistula) may not be used for the pyre. The son or husband of a deceased person has his head, moustache, and armpits shaved on the tenth day. Dōmb women, and women of other tribes in the Jeypore Agency tracts, wear silver ear ornaments called nāgul, representing a cobra just about to strike with tongue protruded. Similar ornaments of gold, called nāga pōgulu (cobra-shaped earrings), are worn by women of some Telugu castes in the plains of Vizagapatam. The personal names of the Dōmbs are, as among other Oriya castes, often those of the day of the week on which the individual was born.

Concerning the religion of the Dōmbs, Mr. Fawcett notes that "their chief god — probably an ancestral spirit — is called Kaluga. There is one in each village, in the headman's house. The deity is represented by a pie piece (copper coin), placed in or over a new earthen