Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: At a marriage among the Okkiliyans (cultivators) of Coitnbatore, the bridegroom carries a katar (dagger) with a lime stuck on the point, wrapped up in a cloth, which he keeps by him until the kankanam (marriage wrist- thread) is untied. An Odde (navvy) bridegroom, when he proceeds to the bride's house, carries a curved knife partly concealed by a cloth. When the tali is tied round the bride's neck, she stoops down, and the bridegroom touches the knot of the tali string thrice with the knife, implying thereby that the knot has been so firmly tied that even a knife cannot cut it. Hence their union will also be strong. At a Toreya (Canarese fisherman) marriage, the Brahman priest ties on the head of both bride and bridegroom an ornament made of gold leaf or tinsel, called mandai-kattu. The bridegroom puts on the sacred thread, and, holding a katar in his hand, sits in the wedding booth with a cloth screen surrounding him on all sides. The tying of a bashingam, made of pith or flowers, on the forehead (plate III) during the marriage ceremony is a general custom among the Telugu and Canarese classes. Concerning the marriage ceremony of the Tottiyans or Kambalas (Telugu cultivators) of Madura and Tinnevelly, I gather that it is carried out in two temporary huts, one for the bridegroom, the other for the bride. The tali is tied round the bride's neck by an elderly male or female belonging to the family. If the marriage is contracted with a woman of a lower class, the bridegroom's hut is not made use of, and he does not personally take part in the ceremony. A dagger Vakkaliga Bride, (katar), or sword is sent to represent him, and the tali is tied in the presence thereof. In a Zamindari suit some years ago, details of which are published in the Madras Law Reports, Vol. XVII, 1894,...