Page:Gódávari.djvu/74

50 called talambrálu and signifying a solemn vow of fidelity) and the bridegroom places his foot on the bride's. This and the tying of the kankanam are the binding parts of the ceremony. The star Arundhati (popularly called Aranjóti) is pointed out to the bride as typical of chastity, and the couple do worship to some coloured pots (avirédi) representing the gods. The relatives give presents of money (katnam) to the bride, which are not supposed to be retained, but are returned to the givers on the first convenient occasion. The final rites are performed next morning, or in some castes on the third or fifth day. The bridegroom ties a string of black glass beads round the bride's neck, and the saffron threads are removed from the couple's wrists. They then are given a pot of water coloured with chunam and saffron in which a ring and some other ornaments have been placed, and they scramble for the ornaments, like children hunting in a bran pie. The nuptial rites, which are simple, are performed on a separate occasion, since days auspicious for weddings are not suitable for them.

The ceremonies at the re-marriage of a widow are, as elsewhere, much shorter. The bridegroom merely goes to her house, ties the táli, and takes her to his house the same night. The dead are usually burnt, but children are buried and some simple rite is performed, such as the pouring of milk, either alone or mixed with rice or oil and ghee, on the grave. The ceremonies at the funerals of adults are much the same in all non-Bráhman castes. The body is bathed and is borne to the burning-ground on a bier. The Málas and Mádigas carry it in their arms in a sitting posture. The corpse is set down three times on the road while rice is placed at the four corners of the bier. When it has been placed on the pyre, the son of the deceased walks thrice round it with a pot of water in which three holes have been made, and lights the pyre with face averted. The relatives then go home and worship a lamp. Further ceremonies are performed on the eleventh day afterwards (called the pedda dinam or ' great day ') and on some day between the second and fifth after it, which is called the chinna dinam or 'small day.' On the latter the bones and ashes are collected and are offered a ball of cooked rice. The party then returns home and feasts.

Statistics of the numerous castes which occur in the Gódávari district will be found in the separate Appendix to this volume. Space prevents reference to the whole of them, and most of them, indeed, are common to the whole of the Telugu country and their ways do not differ in this district from those of their caste-fellows elsewhere.