MOTHERRIGHT 267 



lower rank may marry into a caste above his own. 

 Among the Nambutiris a further rule obtains by which 

 the eldest son alone enters into lawful wedlock. He, 

 indeed, may have as many as four wives ; but his 

 ^brothers are in general prohibited from marriage, or 

 at all events their marriages are extremely rare. But 

 this is not to say that younger sons are condemned to 

 a life of celibacy. Their needs are supplied by the 

 Nayars. Before a Niyar maiden attains puberty she 

 is required to be married by the rite of tying the tali, 

 a small golden ornament worn on the neck, and the 

 ordinary badge of marriage among the Dravidian 

 peoples of Southern India. It is not quite clear 

 whether this ceremony confers the rights of a husband 

 on the manavdlan, or bridegroom. Whether it does 

 so or not, on the fourth day he is required to divorce 

 her by cutting in two the cloth which she wears. 

 The ceremonies having all been performed in the 

 house where she and her family reside, the manavalan 

 departs and has no more to do with her. The next 

 business is to get her a real husband. It is arranged 

 by the kdranavan, or head of the family, with the 

 head of the bridegroom's family. No religious form- 

 ality is required, as with the previous rite. All that 

 is necessary is the consent of the bride and bridegroom 

 and of their respective families. In South Malabar 

 husband and wife do not even live together. The 

 wife continues to reside with her own family, and the 

 husband visits her there. In North Malabar a special 

 ceremony is performed, after which the bridegroom is 

 allowed to take the bride to live at his house ; but 

 (and this is important) in case of his death she must 

 leave the house and return to her own home at once, 



