Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 2.djvu/81

Rh of Cherumans follow, and at intervals indulge in stick play, the women singing- in chorus to encourage them 'Let us see, let us see the stick play (vadi tallu), Oh! Cheruman.' The men and women mingle indiscriminately in the dance during the wedding ceremony. On the return to the bridegroom's hut, the bride is expected to weep loudly, and deplore her fate. On entering the bridegroom's hut, she must tread on a pestle placed across the threshold." During the dance, the women have been described as letting down their hair, and dancing with a tolerable amount of rhythmic precision amid vigorous drumming and singing. According to another account, the bridegroom receives from his brother-in-law a kerchief, which the giver ties round his waist, and a bangle which is placed on his arm. The bride receives a pewter vessel from her brother. Next her cousin ties a kerchief round the groom's forehead, and sticks a betel leaf in it. The bride is then handed over to the bridegroom. Of the puberty and marriage ceremonies of the Pulayas of Cochin, the following detailed account is given by Mr. Anantha Krishna Iyer. "When a Pulaya girl comes of age, she is located in a separate hut. Five Vallons (headmen), and the castemen of the kara (settlement), are invited to take part in the performance of the ceremony. A song, called malapattu, is sung for an hour by a Parayan to the accompaniment of drum and pipe. The Parayan gets a para of paddy, and his assistants three annas each. As soon as this is over, seven cocoanuts are broken, and the water thereof is poured over the head of the girl, and the broken halves are distributed among the five Vallons and seven girls who are also invited to be present. Some more water is also poured on the girl's head at the time. She is lodged in a