Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/315

201 betel is distributed in a recognised order of precedence, commencing with the guru and the god. On the following morning four big pots, smeared with turmeric and chunam (lime) are placed in four corners, so as to have a square space (irāni square) between them. Nine turns of cotton thread are wound round the pots. Within the square the bridegroom and two young girls seat themselves. Rice is thrown over them, and they are anointed. They and the bride are then washed by five women called bhūmathōru. The bridegroom and one of the girls are carried in procession to the temple, followed by the five women, one of whom carries a brass vessel with five betel leaves and a ball of sacred ashes (vibūthi) over its mouth, and another a woman's cloth on a metal dish, while the remaining three women and the bridegroom's parents throw rice. Cocoanuts and betel are offered to Hanumān, and lines are drawn on the face of the bridegroom with the sacred ashes. The party then return to the house. The lower half of a grinding mill is placed beneath the pandal, and a Brāhman priest invites the contracting couple to stand thereon. He then takes the tali, and ties it on the bride's neck, after it has been touched by the bridegroom. Towards evening the newly married couple sit inside the house, and close to them is placed a big brass vessel containing a mixture of cooked rice, jaggery (crude sugar) and curds, which is brought by the women already referred to. They give a small quantity thereof to the couple, and go away. Five Bēdar men come near the vessel after removing their head-dress, surround the vessel, and place their left hands thereon. With their right hands they shovel the food into their mouths, and bolt it with all possible despatch. This ceremony is called bhuma idothu, or special eating, and is in some