Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/283

Rh those of kingly parentage. The equivalent Rājavamsam is recorded, in the Census Report, 1901, as being returned by some Maravans in Madura and Kurumbans in Trichinopoly. Rājakulam, Rājabāsha, or Rājaboga occurs as a sub-division of Agamudaiyan.  '''Rājpinde. —''' See Arasu.  Rājpuri.— The Rājpuris, or Rājāpuris, are a Konkani-speaking caste of traders and cultivators in South Canara. Concerning them, Mr. H. A. Stuart writes as follows.* "The Rājāpuris, also called Bālōlikars, were originally traders, and perhaps have some claim to be considered Vaisyas. In social status they admit themselves to be inferior only to Brāhmans. They wear the sacred thread, profess the Saiva faith, and employ Karādi Brāhmans as priests in all their ceremonies. Their girls should be married before the age of puberty, and marriage of widows is not permitted. The marriage ceremony chiefly consists in the hands of the bride and bridegroom being united together, and held by the bride's father while her mother pours water over them. The water should first fall on the bride's hands, and then flow on to those of the bridegroom. This takes place at the bride's house. A curious feature in the ceremony is that for four days either the bride or bridegroom should occupy the marriage bed; it must never be allowed to become vacant. [This ceremony is called pajamadmai, or mat marriage.] On the fourth day, the couple go to the bridegroom's house, where a similar 'sitting' on the marriage bed takes place. They are mostly vegetarians, rice being their chief food, but some use fish, and rear fowls and goats for sale as food. Many are now cultivators." 