Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/47

Rh after which the relatives sprinkle seshai rice (or rice beaten out without any application of water) over the heads of the pair. The relatives are feasted and otherwise hospitably entertained; and these in return bestow donations on the pair, from one fanam to one pagoda. The marriage is then finished. Sometimes, when money for expenses is wanting, this wedding ceremony is postponed till after the birth of two or three children. If the first husband dies, another marriage is customary. Should it so happen that the husband, after the tying on of the tāli in the first instance, dislikes the object of his former choice, then the people of their tribe are assembled; she is conducted back to her mother's house; sheep, oxen, eating-plate, with brass cup, jewels, ornaments, and whatever else she may have brought with her from her mother's house, are returned; and the tāli, which was put on, is broken off and taken away. If the wife dislikes the husband, then the money he paid, the expenses which he incurred in the wedding, the tāli which he caused to be bound on her, are restored to him, and the woman, taking whatsoever she brought with her, returns to her mother's house, and marries again at her pleasure."

It is recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1891, that "a special custom obtaining among the Marava zemindars of Tinnevelly is mentioned by the Registrar of that district. It is the celebration of marriage by means of a proxy for the bridegroom in the shape of a stick, which is sent by the bridegroom, and is set up in the marriage booth in his place. The tāli is tied by some one representative of the bridegroom, and the marriage ceremony then becomes complete .... Widow re-marriage is freely allowed and practiced, except in the Sembunāttu sub-division." "A widow,"