Widow marriage is known as naduvittu tāli, as the tāli-tying ceremony takes place within the house (naduvīdu).
To get rid of the pollution of the first menstrual period, holy water is sprinkled over the girl by a Brāhman, after she has bathed. She seats herself on a plank, and rice cakes (puttu), a pounding stone, and ārathi are waved in front of her. Sugar and betel are then distributed among those present.
The dead are sometimes burnt, and sometimes buried. As soon as an individual dies, the son goes three times round the corpse, carrying an iron measure (marakkal), wherein a lamp rests on unhusked rice. The corpse is washed, and the widow bathes in such a way that the water falls on it. Omission to perform this rite would entail disgrace, and there is an abusive phrase "May the water from the woman's body not fall on that of the corpse." The dead man and his widow exchange betel three times. The corpse is carried to the burning or burial-ground on a bamboo stretcher, and, on the way thither, is set down near a stone representing Arichandra, to whom food is offered. Arichandra was a king who became a slave of the Paraiyans, and is in charge of the burial-ground. By some Pallis a two-anna piece is placed on the forehead, and a pot of rice on the breast of the corpse. These are taken away by the officiating barber and Paraiyan respectively.*[1] Men who die before they are married have to go through a post-mortem mock marriage ceremony. A garland of arka (Calotropis gigantea) flowers is placed round the neck of the corpse, and mud from a gutter is shaped into cakes, which, like the cakes at a real marriage, are placed on various parts of the body.
- ↑ * Gazetteer of the Tanjore district.
