Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/512

BRAHMAN and a yard in front, in which stands, in a raised pot, a plant of the tulasi or sacred basil. Some of the houses of the old families are really large and substantial buildings, with an open courtyard in the centre. Men and widows bathe the whole body every day before breakfast, but married women bathe only up to the neck, it being considered inauspicious for them to bathe the head also. In temples and religious houses, males bathe in the evening also. An oil bath is taken once a week. They are, of course, abstainers from animal food and spirituous liquors, and a prohibition extends to some other articles, such as onions, garlic, mushrooms, etc. At times of marriages, deaths or initiations, it is usual to give feasts, which may be attended by all Drāvida Brahmins. The Shivallis have 252 gōtras, and the names of the following seem to be of totemistic origin: —

Kudrettāya, from kudre, a horse, taya, belonging to. Talitāya, palmyra palm. Manōlitāya, name of a vegetable. Shunnatāya, chunam, lime. Kalambitāya, a kind of box. Nellitāya, the Indian gooseberry. Gōli, banyan tree. Āne, elephant.

"These names were obtained from one of the eight swāmis or gurus of the Udipi math, and according to him they have no totemistic force at the present day. Girls must be married before maturity, and the ordinary age now-a-days is between five and eleven. The age of the bridegroom is usually between fifteen and five and twenty. A maternal uncle's daughter can be married without consulting any horoscope, and during the marriage ceremonies it is customary for a bridegroom's sister to obtain from him a formal promise that, if he has a daughter, he will give her in marriage to her son.