Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/292

the guests, hands them over. Failure to do so would be an act of discourtesy, and regarded as an insult to be wiped out by a heavy fine. When the procession arrives at the house, entrance into the marriage booth is prevented by a stick held across it by people of the bride's village. A mock struggle takes place, during which turmeric water is thrown by both sides, and an entrance into the house is finally effected. After a meal has been partaken of, the bridal party proceed to the village of the bridegroom, where the bride and bridegroom are lodged in separate houses. In front of the bridegroom's house a booth, supported by twelve posts arranged in four rows, has been erected. The two pillars nearest the entrance to the house are called murthi kamba. Into the holes made for the reception of these, after a cocoanut has been broken, ghī (clarified butter), milk, and a few copper coins are placed. The bridal pair, after an oil bath, are led to the booth, decorated with jewels and wearing new cloths, and made to sit on a plank. A cocoanut is broken, and they salute a vessel placed on a plate. The bridal party then adjourn to a pond or stream, and do pūja to their god. On the return thence the bridal couple must be accompanied by their maternal uncles, who should keep on dancing, while cocoanuts are broken in front of them till the house is reached. The contracting parties then again sit on the plank with their little fingers linked, while the bride money (theravu) is paid to the father-in-law, and the milk money (pāl kuli) to the mother-in-law. The tāli (a golden disc) is then tied on to the bride's neck by some female relation of the bridegroom, and the bride and bridegroom, after saluting those assembled, enter the house, where the young wife is at once told to cook some rice, of which she and her husband partake from the same leaf plate.