Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 6.djvu/409

Rh fig or betel leaf. To their foreheads are tied small gold or silver plates, called pattam, of which the most conspicuous are those tied by the maternal uncles. The plate for the bridegroom is V-shaped like a nāmam, and that for the bride like a pīpal leaf. The bride and bridegroom go through a mock ceremony representative of domestic life, and pot-searching. Seven rings are dropped into a pot. If the girl picks up three of these, her first-born will be a girl. If the bridegroom picks up five, it will be a boy. Married women go in procession to an ant-hill, and bring to the marriage booth a basket-load of the earth, which they heap up round the posts. Offerings of balls of rice, cooked vegetables, etc., are then made. After the wrist-threads (kankanam) have been removed, the bride and bridegroom go to a tank, and go through a mock ploughing ceremony. In some places, the purōhits give the bridegroom a sacred thread, which is finally thrown into a tank or well. By some Sembadavans a ceremony, called muthugunir kuththal (pouring water on the back) is performed in the seventh month of pregnancy. The woman stands on the marriage dais, and red-coloured water, and lights are waved. Bending down, she places her hands on two big pots, and milk is poured over her back from a betel leaf by all her relations. The Vaishnava Sembadavans burn, and the Saivites bury their dead in a sitting posture. Fire is carried to the burial-ground by the barber. In cases of burial the face is covered over by a cloth, in which a slit is made, so that the top of the head and a portion of the forehead are exposed. A figure representing Ganēsa is made on the head with ashes. All present throw sacred ashes, and a pie (copper coin) into the grave, which is then filled in. While this is being done, a