Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/468

ODDE the face of the bridegroom, using milk instead of water. The bride is also shaved by a barber woman. The pair are decorated, and brought to the pandal, where those assembled throw rice over their heads, and make presents of money. Their hands are then united by the headman, and the dhāre water poured over them by the maternal uncle of the bride.

An interesting rite in connection with pregnancy is the presentation of a fowl or two to the pregnant woman by her maternal uncle. The fowls are tended with great care, and, if they lay eggs abundantly, it is a sign that the pregnant woman will be prolific. The dead are either buried or cremated. If cremation is resorted to, the final death ceremonies (bojja) must be celebrated on the eleventh or thirteenth day. If the corpse has been buried, these ceremonies must not take place before the lapse of at least a month.  Oddē.— The Oddēs or Voddas, who are commonly called Wudders, are summed up by Mr. H. A. Stuart * as being "the navvies of the country, quarrying stone, sinking wells, constructing tank bunds, and executing other kinds of earthwork more rapidly than any other class, so that they have got almost a monopoly of the trade. They are Telugu people, who came originally from Orissa, whence their name. Were they more temperate, they might be in very good circumstances, but, as soon as they have earned a small sum, they strike work and have a merry-making, in which all get much intoxicated, and the carouse continues as long as funds last. They are very ignorant, not being able even to calculate how much work they have done, and trusting altogether to their employer's honesty. They are an open-hearted, 