Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/178

KANAKKAN Parāttu. Each of these is further sub-divided into clans (kiriyam), which are exogamous. A young man may marry the daughter of his maternal uncle, but this is not permissible in some places. Marriage is both infant and adult, and may be celebrated by Patunna Kanakkans at any time between the tenth and thirteenth years of a girl, while the Vettuva Kanakkans may celebrate it only after girls attain puberty. They often choose the bridegroom beforehand, with the intention of performing the ceremony after puberty. When a girl attains maturity, she is kept apart in a part of the house on the score of pollution, which lasts for seven days. She bathes on the fourth day. On the morning of the seventh day seven girls are invited, and they accompany the girl to a tank (pond) or a river. They all have an oil bath, after which they return home. The girl, dressed and adorned in her best, is seated on a plank in a conspicuous part of the hut, or in a pandal (booth) put up for the time in front of it. A small vessel full of paddy * (nerapara), a cocoanut, and a lighted lamp, are placed in front of her. Her Enangan begins his musical tunes, and continues for an hour or two, after which he takes for himself the above things, while his wife, who has purified the girl by sprinkling cow-dung water, gets a few annas for her service. It is now, at the lucky moment, that the girl's mother ties the tāli round her neck. The seven girls are fed, and given an anna each. The relations, and other castemen who are invited, are treated to a sumptuous dinner. The guests as they depart give a few annas each to the chief host, to meet the expenses of the ceremony and the feast. This old custom of mutual help prevails largely among