Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/497

Rh poured over the couple from five pots. They then dress themselves in new cloths presented by their fathers-in-law. A feast is given by the bride's party. On the following day, the bride is conducted to the home of the bridegroom, at the entrance to which they are met by the bridegroom's mother, who sprinkles rice coloured with turmeric over them, and washes their feet with turmeric-water. Liquor is then distributed, and a meal partaken of. The Dēsāri takes seven grains of rice and seven areca nuts and ties them up in the ends of the cloths of the contracting couple. On the following day, a feast is held, and, next day, the parties of the bride and bridegroom throw turmeric-water over each other. 'All then repair to the stream, and bathe. A feast follows, for which a sheep is killed. It is noted, in the Gazetteer of the Vizagapatam District, that in the course of an Omanaito wedding there is a free fight, with mud for missiles.

The remarriage of widows is permitted, and a younger brother may marry the widow of his elder brother. Divorce is allowed, and divorcées may marry again.

The Omanaitos worship Tākurāni and Chāmariya Dēvata, as priest of whom a member of the caste officiates. An annual festival is held in the month of Chaitro. The dead are burnt. Pollution on account of a death in a family lasts for ten days, during which the caste occupation is not carried out, and the mourners are fed by people of another sept. On the eleventh day a feast is held, at which liquor is forbidden. The caste title is usually Nāyako, but the more prosperous take the title Pātro.  Ondipuli.— Recorded, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as Telugu-speaking cultivators and cattle-breeders 