headman, and large sums are set apart towards a fund for meeting the marriage expenses of the poorer members of the caste, and the expenditure in connection with kulo panchāyats.
Concerning the marriage ceremonies, Mr. D. Mahanty writes as follows. "At a marriage among the Badhōyis, and various other castes in Ganjam, two pith crowns are placed on the head of the bridegroom. On his way to the bride's house, he is met by her purōhit (priest) and relations, and her barber washes his feet, and presents him with a new yellow cloth, flowers, and kusa grass (also called dharbha grass). When he arrives at the house, amid the recitations of stanzas by the priest, the blowing of conch shells and other music, the women of the bride's party make a noise called huluhuli, and shower kusa grass over him. At the marriage booth, the bridegroom sits upon a raised 'altar,' and the bride, who arrives accompanied by his maternal uncle, pours salt, yellow-coloured rice, and parched paddy(rice) over the head of the bridegroom, by whose side she seats herself. One of the pith crowns is removed from the bridegroom's forehead, and placed on that of the bride. Various Brāhmanical rites are then performed, and the bride's father places her hand in that of the bridegroom. A bundle of straw is now placed on the altar, on which the contracting parties sit, the bridegroom facing east, and the bride west. The purohit rubs a little jaggery over the bridegroom's right palm, joins it to the palm of the bride, and ties their two hands together with a rope made of kusa grass (hasthagonti).A yellow cloth is tied to the cloths which the bridal pair are wearing, and stretched over their shoulders (gontiyala). The hands are then untied by a married woman. Srādha is performed for the propitiation of ancestors,
