Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/155

Rh the bride with a foot on the basket, the gold tāli, after it has been touched by five married women, is tied round the bride's neck by the officiating priest, while those assembled throw rice over the happy pair, and bless them. According to another version, a bed-sheet is interposed as a screen, so that the bride and bridegroom cannot see each other. On the three following days, the newly-married couple sit on the blanket, and rice is thrown over them. In Western Bellary, the bridegroom, on the third day, carries the bride on his waist to Hanumān temple, where married women throw rice over them. On the fifth morning, they are once more anointed and washed within the irāni square, and, towards evening, the bride's father hands her over to her husband, saying "She was till this time a member of my sept and house. Now I hand her over to your sept and house." On the night of the sixth day, a ceremony called booma idothu (food placing) is performed. A large metal vessel (gangālam) is filled with rice, ghī (clarified butter), curds, and sugar. Round this some of the relations of the bride and bridegroom sit, and finish off the food. The number of those who partake thereof must be an odd one, and they must eat the food as quickly as possible. If anything goes wrong with them, while eating or afterwards, it is regarded as an omen of impending misfortune. Some even consider it as an indication of the bad character of the bride.

Concerning the marriage ceremony of the Kurubas of North Arcot, Mr. Stuart writes as follows. "As a preliminary to the marriage, the bridegroom's father observes certain marks or curls on the head of the proposed bride. Some of these are believed to forebode prosperity, and others only misery to the family, into which the girl enters. They are, therefore, very cautious