Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 3.djvu/97

Rh observed when a girl attains maturity, for he has a claim on the girl as a bride for his son. The two ceremonies are performed at one time for large batches of boys and girls. On an auspicious day, the young people are all feasted, and dressed in their best, and repair to a river or tank (pond). The mothers of the girls make lamps of plantain leaves, and float them on the water, and the boys are operated on by the local barber." It is stated, in the Census Report, 1901, that the Sīrukudi Kallans use a tāli, on which the Muhammadan badge of a crescent and star is engraved. In connection with marriage among the Kallans, it is noted by Mr. S. M. Natesa Sastri * that " at the Māttupongal feast, towards evening, festoons of aloe fibre and cloths containing coins are tied to the horns of bullocks and cows, and the animals are driven through the streets with tom-tom and music. In the villages, especially those inhabited by the Kallans in Madura and Tinnevelly, the maiden chooses as her husband him who has safely untied and brought to her the cloth tied to the horn of the fiercest bull. The animals are let loose with their horns containing valuables, amidst the din of tom-tom and harsh music, which terrifies and bewilders them. They run madly about, and are purposely excited by the crowd. A young Kalla will declare that he will run after such and such a bull — and this is sometimes a risky pursuit — and recover the valuables tied to its horn. The Kallan considers it a great disgrace to be injured while chasing the bull."

A poet of the early years of the present era, quoted by Mr. Kanakasabhai Pillai,† describes this custom as practiced by the shepherd castes in those days. " A