Page:Castes and tribes of southern India, Volume 5.djvu/504

PADMA SALE it to the rishi, saying 'Oh! Swāmi, who is thy servant to worship, and how is he to obtain moksham or admittance to the presence of the Supreme?' The rishi answered 'Pay adoration to me, and thou wilt obtain moksham.' " The office of headman (Setti or Gaudu) is hereditary. The headman has under him an assistant, called Ummidi Setti or Ganumukhi, who is the caste messenger, and is exempt from the various subscriptions for temple festivals, etc.

When a girl reaches puberty, she is forbidden to eat meat or Amarantus during the period of ceremonial pollution. In settling the preliminaries of a marriage, a Brāhman purōhit takes part. With some Padma Sālēs it is etiquette not to give direct answers when a marriage is being fixed up. For example, those who have come to seek the hand of a girl say " We have come for a sumptuous meal," to which the girl's parents, if consenting to the match, will reply "We are ready to feed you. You are our near relations." The marriage rites are a blend of the Canarese and Telugu types. In the Ceded districts, the bride is conveyed to the house of the bridegroom, seated on a bull, after worship has been done to Hanumān. As she enters the house, a cocoanut is waved, and thrown on the ground. She then bathes in an enclosure with four posts, round which cotton thread has been wound nine times. Wrist-threads of cotton and wool are tied on the bride and bridegroom. The bottu (marriage badge) is tied round the bride's neck, and she stands on a pile of cholum (Sorghum vulgare: millet) on the floor or in a basket. The bridegroom stands on a mill-stone. While the bottu is being tied, a screen is interposed between the contracting couple. The bride's nose-screw ornament is dropped into a plate of milk,