Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/97

Rh cloths and ten rupees eight annas to the bride's Tandān. The girl is dressed in one of these cloths, and led to the booth, the bridegroom's sister holding her by the hand. She sits on the mana, which has been brought, and placed on the cloth, by her uncle. The bridegroom comes in procession, carried on his uncle's shoulders. The girl is still a child, and he is only a few years her senior. His uncle puts him down on the right side of the girl, after walking thrice round the booth. The girl's uncle's wife sits close to her, on the other side, on the mana. Her father asks the astrologer three times if it is the proper time to tie the tāli, and is answered thrice in the affirmative. Then the boy bridegroom ties the tāli on the girl's neck. The boy and girl sing out a chorus in praise of Ganapathi, and end up with three loud shouts and hurrahs. Then the boy seats himself on the ground, outside the pillow. The girl is taken inside the house, and, after a general feast, is brought back, and seated on the mana, and rice and flowers are sprinkled. No money is paid to the uncle's son, as at Calicut. The boy bridegroom pays eight annas to his sister for leading the bride by the hand. When the marriage has been done by proxy, the boy bridegroom is selected from a tarwad into which the girl might marry. He stays at the girl's house for three days, and, on the fourth day, the boy and girl are taken to a temple. A formal divorce is effected, and the boy is taken away.

It will not be worth while to attempt a description of the marriage ceremony of the Tiyans of North Malabar, because there is none, or next to none. There the Tiyans and all classes, including even the Muhammadan Māppillas, follow the rule of marumakkatāyam, or inheri- tance through females from uncle to nephew. The children have no right to their father's property. Either