Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/39

Rh a handful of rice, which his brother-in-law tries to prevent him from eating. The newly-married couple remain for about a week at the bride's house, and are then conducted to that of the bridegroom, the brother-in-law carrying a hundred or a hundred and ten cakes. Before they enter the house, coloured water and a cocoanut are waved in front of them, and, as soon as she puts foot within her new home, the bride must touch pots containing rice and salt with her right hand. A curious custom among the Pallis at Kumbakōnam is that the bride's mother, and often all her relatives, are debarred from attending her marriage. The bride is also kept gōsha (in seclusion) for all the days of the wedding.*

It is noted by Mr. Hemingway that some of the Pandamuttu Pallis of the Trichinopoly district "practice the betrothal of infant girls, the ceremony consisting of pouring cow-dung water into the mouth of the baby. They allow a girl to marry a boy younger than herself, and make the latter swallow a two-anna bit, to neutralise the disadvantages of such a match. Weddings are generally performed at the boy's house, and the bride's mother does not attend. The bride is concealed from view by a screen."

It is said that, some years ago, a marriage took place at Panruti near Cuddalore on the old Svayamvara principle described in the story of Nala and Damayanti in the Mahābhārata. According to this custom, a girl selects a husband from a large number of competitors, who are assembled for the purpose.

Widow remarriage is permitted. At the marriage of a widow, the tāli is tied by a married woman, the bridegroom standing by the side, usually inside the house.