Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/304

RONA even of the household, and sits in a space enclosed by seven arrows connected together by a thread. On the seventh day she bathes, and is presented with a new cloth. It is customary for a man to marry his paternal uncle's daughter. At the time of marriage, the bridegroom's party repair to the house of the bride with a sheep, goat, rice, and a female cloth with a rupee placed on it, and four quarter-anna bits inserted within its fold. The cloth and money are taken by the bride's mother, and the animals and rice are used for a feast. On the following day, the bride goes to the house of the bridegroom, in front of which a pandal (booth), made out of nine poles of the nērēdu tree (Eugenia Jambolana) has been set up. At the auspicious hour, which has been fixed by the Dēsāri who officiates, in the absence of a Brāhman, at the marriage rites, the bride and bridegroom take their seats in the pandal with a curtain between them. The Dēsāri joins their hands together, and ties to the ends of their cloths a new cloth to which a quarter-anna piece is attached, betel leaves and nuts, and seven grains of rice. The curtain is then removed, and the pair enter the house. The knotted new cloth is removed, and kept in the house during the next two days, being untied and retied every morning. On the third day, the couple again come within the pandal, and the new cloth is again tied to them. They are bathed together in turmeric water, and the cloth is then untied for the last time. The rice is examined to see if it is in a good state of preservation, and its condition is regarded as an omen for good or evil. The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother usually marries the widow of his elder brother.

There is for all the Ronas a headman of their caste, called Bhatho Nāyako, at Nundapūr, who decides