Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 4.djvu/499

Rh stones erected by the older race to the memory of their village chiefs."

For the following note, I am indebted to Mr. C. Hayavadana Rao. The Mālis say that their ancestors lived originally at Kāsi (Benares), whence they emigrated to serve under the Rāja of Jeypore. They are divided into the following sub-divisions: — Bodo, Pondra, Kosalya, Pannara, Sonkuva, and Dongrudiya. The name Pondra is said to be derived from podoro, a dry field. I am informed that, if a Pondra is so prosperous as to possess a garden which requires the employment of a picottah, he is bound to entertain as many men of his caste as choose to go to his house. A man without a picottah may refuse to receive such visits. A picottah is the old-fashioned form of a machine still used for raising water, and consists of a long lever or yard pivotted on an upright post, weighted on the short arm, and bearing a line and bucket on the long arm.

Among the Bodo Mālis, a man can claim his paternal aunt's daughter in marriage, which takes place before the girl reaches puberty. A jholla tonka (bride-price) of forty rupees is paid, and the girl is conducted to the house of the bridegroom, in front of which a pandal (booth) has been erected, with nine pots, one above the other, placed at the four corners and in the centre. In the middle of the pandal a mattress is spread, and to the pandal a cloth, with a myrabolam (Terminalia fruit), rice, and money tied up in it, is attached. The contracting couple sit together, and a sacred thread is given to the bridegroom by the officiating priest. The bride is presented with necklaces, nose-screws, and other ornaments by the bridegroom's party. They then repair to the bridegroom's house. The ceremonies are repeated during the next three days, and on the fifth day