Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/221

Rh Nambūtiri women, who, being unable to come out and welcome the bridegroom, do so by proxy. These women wave a light in front of his face, and offer ashtamangalyam — a plate on which are plantain, betel leaves, a cocoanut, and other articles. On this day, the aupāsana agni, or sacred fire, is prepared in the courtyard of the bride's illam. A square pit is made, and fire is made with a piece of wood of the jāk tree and of the pīpal. This fire is rendered sacred by some mystic rites. It is kept burning throughout the marriage, and is preserved until the death of the future husband and wife in one of two ways: —
 * (1) keeping a lamp lighted at the fire burning perpetually;


 * (2) heating in the fire a piece of wood (plāsa or palāsa) or dharba grass. The wood or grass is put away, and, when the aupāsana agni is to be revived, is lighted in a fire of jāk and pīpal wood, while certain mantrams (consecrated formulæ) are repeated.

The body of the bridegroom (and, I think, of the bride should she die first) should be burnt in the aupāsana agni prepared on the first day of the wedding. The aupāsana agni is, as it were, a witness to the marriage. In the courtyard, the nandimukham ceremony is performed for propitiation of the minor deities and the pitris (spirits of deceased ancestors). A pot containing sacred or consecrated water, a piece of sandalwood, a piece of gold, flowers, raw rice, and some fruits are the apparent object of adoration. It is called kalas — the kalasam of the Tamil and Telugu countries — and is a common symbol of the deity. According to Monier Williams,* it should be worshipped thus. "In the