Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/80

CHERUMAN :3. In addition to glass bead necklets, a necklet with heavy heart-shaped brass pendants. String round neck to ward off fever.


 * 4. String necklet with five brass cylinders pendent; five brass bangles on right wrist; six brass and two iron bangles on left wrist.

Right hand, one copper and five brass rings on middle finger; one iron and three brass rings on little finger.

Left hand, one copper and five brass rings on middle finger; three brass and two copper rings on ring finger; one brass ring on little finger.
 * 5. Trouser button in helix of left ear.


 * 6. Brass bead necklet with pendent brass ornament with legend "Best superior umbrella made in Japan, made for Fazalbhoy Peeroo Mahomed, Bombay."

A Cheruman, at Calicut, had his hair long and unkempt, as he played the drum at the temple. Another had the hair arranged in four matted plaits, for the cure of disease in performance of a vow. A man who wore a copper cylinder on his loin string, containing a brass strip with mantrams (consecrated formulæ) engraved on it, sold it to me for a rupee with the assurance that it would protect me from devils. Concerning the marriage ceremony of the Cherumans in Malabar, Mr. Appadorai Iyer writes that "the bridegroom's sister is the chief performer. It is she who pays the bride's price, and carries her off. The consent of the parents is required, and is signified by an interchange of visits between the parents of the bride and bridegroom. During these visits, rice-water (conji) is sipped. Before tasting the conji, they drop a fanam (local coin) into the vessel containing it, as a token of assent to the marriage. When the wedding party sets out, a large congregation