Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/371

Rh day, in most places, a festival is held in honour of the goddess Kanyaka Paramēswari. The bride and bridegroom's mothers go to a tank (pond) or river with copper vessels, and bring back water at the head of a procession. The vessels are placed in a special pandal, and worshipped with flowers, anilin and turmeric powders. Finally, cocoanuts are broken before them. On the next day, or on the same day if the marriage ceremonies conclude thereon, the festival in honour of the Bālanagaram boys, or those who helped the Kōmatis of Penugonda in their trouble with Vishnu Vardhana, is held. Five boys and girls are bathed, decked with jewelry, and taken in procession to the local temple, whence they are conducted to the bride's house, where they are fed. On the following day, the ceremony called thotlu pūja is performed. A doll is placed in a cradle connected with two poles, and rocked to and fro. The bridegroom gives the doll into the hands of the bride, saying that he has to go on a commercial trip. The bride hands it back to him, with the remark that she has to attend to her kitchen work. On the following day, the bridal couple are taken in procession, and, in the Bellary district, a further day is devoted to the surgi ceremony. The bride and bridegroom bathe together, go to the local temple, and return. Then five girls bathe, the five posts of the marriage pandal are worshipped, and the kankanams (wrist-threads) are removed from the wrists of the newly-married couple.

Kalinga Kōmatis, who live in the northern part of Ganjam, and have forgotten their mother-tongue, have practically adopted the Oriya customs, as they have to depend mainly on Oriya Brāhmans. At their marriages, however, they use the Telugu bottu or sathamānam.