Marriages are arranged by the elders. The father of a youth who is of a marriageable age calls together some of the elders of his division, and proceeds in quest of a suitable bride. If the family visited consents to the match, the headman is sent for, and a move is made to the toddy-shop. Here the father of the future bridegroom fills a small earthen vessel, called in Telugu muntha, and offers it to the father of the bride-elect, asking him, Do you know why I give you this toddy? The recipient replies, It is because I have given you my daughter, and I drink to her health. The vessel is refilled and offered to the headman, who takes it, and enquires of the father of the girl why he is to drink. The reply is, Because I have given my daughter to ——’s son; drink to her health. The questions and answers are repeated while every one present, according to rank, has a drink. Those who have so drunk at this betrothal ceremony are looked upon as witnesses to the contract. After the drinking ceremony, an adjournment is made to the girl’s house, where a feast is partaken of. At the conclusion thereof, the future bridegroom’s people enquire if the girl has a maternal uncle, to whom the purchase money should be paid. The purchase money is 101 madas (a mada = two rupees), and is always the same for both well-to-do and poor. But, as a matter of fact, the whole of it is never paid. A few instalments are sometimes handed over, but generally the money is the cause of endless quarrels. When, however, the families, are on good terms, and the husband enjoys the hospitality of his wife’s maternal uncle, or vice versâ, it is a common thing for one to say to the other after a drink, See, brother-in-law, I have paid you two madas to-day, so deduct this from the vōli (purchase money). After the marriage has been arranged, and the maternal uncle has paid four annas as an earnest of the transaction, the party disperses until such time as the principals are in a position to perform the wedding. They might be infants, or the girl immature, or the intended husband be away. After the betrothal ceremony, the parents of the girl should on no account break off the match. If this were done, the party of the husband-elect would summon those who were present at the drinking ceremony to a meeting, and he who partook of the second drink (the headman) would demand from the father of the girl an explanation of the breach of contract. No explanation is likely to be satisfactory, and the father is fined three hundred varāhas.[217] This sum, like the purchase money, is seldom paid, but the award of it places the party from whom it is due in a somewhat inferior position to the party to whom it is payable. They occupy thenceforth the position of creditor to debtor. On the occasion of quarrels, no delicate sense of refinement restrains the former from alluding to the debt, and the position would be retained through several generations. There is a Tamil proverb that the quarrels of a Korava and an Idaiyan are not easily settled. If the contracting parties are ready to fulfil their engagement, the maternal uncle of the girl is paid five varāhas as the first instalment of the purchase money, and a Brāhman purōhit is asked to fix an auspicious time for the marriage ceremony. At the appointed time, the wedding party assembles at the home of the bride, and the first day is spent in eating and drinking, the bride and bridegroom being arrayed in new clothes purchased at the expense of the bride’s father. On the following day, they again feast. The contracting couple are seated on a kambli (blanket), on which some grains of rice have been previously sprinkled. The guests form a circle round them, and, at the auspicious moment, the bridegroom ties a string of black beads round the bride’s neck. When the string has been tied, the married women present, with hands crossed, throw rice over the heads of the pair. This rice has been previously prepared, and consists of five seers of rice with five pieces of turmeric, dried cocoanut, dried date fruit and jaggery (crude sugar), and five silver or copper coins. While the rice-throwing is proceeding, a monotonous song is crooned, of which the following is a free translation:—
Procure five white bulls.
Get five white goats.
Obtain a seer[218] of silver.
Get a seer of gold.
Always love your father
And live happy for ever.
Look after your mother always,
Your father and mother-in-law.
Do not heed what folk say.