Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/230

PENTIYA called Bhatha Nāyako. He is assisted by a Pradhāni, an Umriya Nāyako, and Dolāyi. The caste messenger is called Cholāno, and he carries a silver baton when he summons the castemen to a meeting. An elaborate ceremony is performed when a person, who has been tried by the caste council, is to be received back into the caste. He is accompanied to the bank of a stream, where his tongue is burnt with a gold or silver wire or ornament by the Bhatha Nāyako, and some offerings from the Jagannātha temple at Pūri are given to him. He is then taken home, and provides a feast, at which the Nāyako has the privilege of eating first. He has further to make a present of cloths to the assembled elders, and the four heads of the caste receive a larger quantity than the others. The feast over, he is again taken, carrying some cooked rice, to the stream, and with it pushed therein. This ceremonial bath frees him from pollution. Girls are married either before or after puberty. A man can claim his paternal aunt's daughter in marriage. The bridegroom's party proceed, with the bridegroom, to the bride's village, and take up their abode in a separate house. They then take three cloths for the bride's mother, three rupees for her father, and a cloth and two annas for each of her brothers, and present them together with rice, liquor, and other articles. Pandals (booths) are erected in front of the quarters of the bridal couple, that of the bridegroom being made of nine, and that of the bride of five sāl (Shorea robusta) poles, to which a pot containing myrabolams (Terminalia fruits) and rice is tied. The couple bathe, and the bridegroom proceeds to the house of the bride. The Dēsāri, who officiates, dons the sacred thread, and divides the pandal into two by means of a screen or curtain. The couple