Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/222

PATTANAVAN The consent of the maternal uncles is necessary before a pair can be united in matrimony. When the wedding day has been fixed, the bridegroom's party distribute grāma thāmbūlam (village pān-supāri or betel) to the headman and villagers. The marriage milk-post is made of Mimusops hexandra, Erythrina indica, Casuarina equisetifolia, the green wood of some other tree, or even a pestle. In one form of the marriage ceremony, which varies in detail according to locality, the bridegroom, on the arrival of the bride at the pandal (booth), puts on the sacred thread, and the Brāhman purōhit makes the sacred fire, and pours ghī (clarified butter) into it. The bridegroom ties the tāli round the bride's neck, and the maternal uncles tie flat silver or gold plates, called pattam, on the foreheads of the contracting couple. Rings are put on their second toes by the brother-in-law of the bridegroom and the maternal uncle of the bride. Towards evening, the sacred thread, the threads which have been tied to the marriage pots and the milk-post, and grain seedlings used at the ceremony, are thrown into the sea. Some Pattanavans allow a couple to live together as man and wife after the betrothal, but before the marriage ceremony. This is, however, on condition that the latter is performed as soon as it is convenient. The remarriage of widows is freely permitted. No marriage pandal is erected, and the bridegroom, or a female relation, ties the tāli on the bride's neck within the house. Such marriage is, therefore, called naduvīttu (interior of the house) tāli. When a woman, who has been guilty of adultery, is remarried, a turmeric string is substituted for the golden tāli, and is tied on the bride's neck by a woman.

Some Pattanavans have adopted the custom of burying their dead in a seated posture (samathi). If a