Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 6 1888.djvu/148

140 was considered eligible for marriage at twelve, and a boy at sixteen; for at eighteen a girl was considered an old maid, and a bachelor at twenty-five was a rara avis. But, as a consequence of the dowry system and the entire absence of anything like elopements or clandestine marriages, there was necessarily a very large proportion of old maids. If the intelligent men of the community would but reflect on the consequences of the pernicious dowry system, and the daily increasing misery its perpetration entails on the masses, they would surely endeavour to reform it. Among the wealthy families early marriages were the rule, and the matches were often made even before the girls had reached their teens. In all cases where eligible matchams, i.e. cousins or sons of mothers' brothers or fathers' sisters were available preference was accorded to them—almost as a matter of right. In the absence of any such, a young man of equal caste was fixed on, and negociations with his relations commenced. The paper then described these negociations, dwelling at length on the arrangements entered into with regard to dowry, and then proceeding to tell of all the feasts and ceremonies connected with a Moorish marriage. A deputation went to solicit Meera Lebbe as a husband of "Aysha, the daughter of Hassim Marikar, their dear friend and near relative." Various panegyrics were passed, a rich feast followed, and the party dispersed. From this time a periodical exchange of presents kept the flame from dying out. There is yet another ceremony before the marriage, viz. the payment of "Seedanam," or dowry-money, which is a function of importance, and takes place some months in advance of the nuptials. The cash of the dowry alone goes to the husband, and enables him to meet the wedding expenses and to purchase the bride's trousseau. On an auspicious day, after partaking of the usual Patchoru Paniaram, milk, rice, and cakes, a party of the bride's immediate friends, to the number of about seventy, attended by the family priest, or "Lebbe," and a brother or cousin of the bride carrying the seedanappanam of the sum agreed upon, with some betel-leaves and a lot of other things, proceed to the young man's house, where elaborate ceremonies are gone through. About ten days before the day fixed for the wedding the invitations are issued. The bridegroom, arrayed in his best and attended by a large party of friends, calls at