Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/347

Rh twenty-five years, if she happens to be unmarried and without issue. Any elderly male member of the boy's family — his elder brother, uncle, or even his father — will have intercourse with her, and beget children, which the boy, when he comes of age, will accept as his own, and legitimatise." This system of marriage, in which there is a marked disparity in the ages of the contracting couple, is referred to in the proverb: "The tāli should be tied at least by a log of wood." The marriage rites are as a rule non-Brāhmanical, but in some well-to-do families the services of a Brahman purōhit are enlisted. The presence of the Umbalakāran or caste headman at a marriage is essential. On the wedding day the contracting couple offer, at their homes, manaipongal (boiled rice), and the alangu ceremony is performed by waving coloured rice round them, or touching the knees, shoulders, and head with cakes, and throwing them over the head. The wrist-threads, consisting of a piece of old cloth dyed with turmeric, are tied on by the maternal uncle. Cooked rice and vegetables are placed in front of the marriage dais, and offered to the gods. Four betel leaves are given to the bridegroom, who goes round the dais, and salutes the four cardinal points of the compass by pouring water from a leaf. He then sits down on a plank on the dais, and hands the tāli (marriage badge) to his sister. Taking the tāli, she proceeds to the bride's house, where the bride, after performing the alangu ceremony, is awaiting her arrival. On reaching the house, she asks for the bride's presents, and one of her brothers replies that such a piece of land, naming one, is given as a dowry. The bridegroom's sister then removes the string of black and gold beads, such as is worn before marriage, from the bride's neck, and replaces it by the tāli. The conch shell should be blown by