Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/267

Rh wife and children should be given this ukantutama, lest they should be left in utter destitution, only a tenth part of the ancestral property being allotted for this purpose, if her husband leaves no separate estate. If more than a fourth of the estate is to be given in this manner, the permission of the heirs in the female line has generally to be obtained. If a man dies without issue, and leaves his wife too old or unwilling to enter into a fresh matrimonial alliance, she is entitled to maintenance out of his estate. A divorced woman, if without issue, is similarly entitled to maintenance during the life of her former husband. The property to which she may thus lay claim is known as nankutama, meaning the property of the nanka or woman. The nankutama cannot be claimed by the widow, if, at the time of her husband's death, she does not live with, and make herself useful to him. When a widow enters into a sambandham alliance, the second husband has to execute a deed called etuppu, agreeing to pay her, either at the time of his death or divorce, a specified sum of money. The ukantutama from the family of her first husband does not go to the issue of a woman who is in possession of an etuppu deed. The namakarana, or name-giving ceremony, is performed in early life. Many of the names are unknown among Nāyars, e.g., Siva, Vishnu, Kuttalalingam, Subramanya, Ponnampalam among males, and Sivakami, Kantimati among females. The tonsure is performed before a boy is three years old. The right of performing the funeral ceremonies is vested in the son, or, failing one, the nephew. Pollution lasts for sixteen days. The karta (chief mourner) has to get himself completely shaved, and wears the sacred thread throughout the period of pollution, or at least on the sixteenth day. On