Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/253

Rh cloth peculiar to married women, and taken outside the house to meet the bridegroom. Both stand within the square of pots, and round their shoulders is tied a cloth, in which the officiating Brāhman knots a rupee. This Brāhman, it may be at once noted, has little more to do with the ceremony beyond ejaculating at intervals ' Shōbhana! Shōbhana!' or 'May it prosper!' Then the right hands of the couple are joined, and they walk seven times round each of the upright pestles, while the women chant the following song, one line being sung for each journey round the pestle:
 * To yourself and myself marriage has taken place.
 * Together we will walk round the marriage pole.
 * Walk the third time; marriage has taken place.
 * You are mine by marriage.
 * Walk the fifth time; marriage has taken place.
 * Walk the sixth time; marriage has taken place.
 * Walk the seventh time; marriage has taken place.
 * We have walked seven times; I am yours.
 * Walk the seventh time; you are mine.

"The couple then sit on a blanket on the ground near one of the pestles, and are completely covered with a cloth. The bride gives the groom seven little balls compounded of rice, ghee (clarified butter) and sugar, which he eats. He then gives her seven others, which she in turn eats. The process is repeated near the other pestle. The women keep on chanting all the while. Then the pair go into the house, and the cloth into which the rupee was knotted is untied, and the ceremonies for that night are over. Next day the couple are bathed separately, and feasting takes place. That evening the girl's mother or near female relations tie to the locks on each side of her temples the curious badges, called gugri, which distinguish a married from an