308 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [Sept., 1914. 



gifts to the Brahmans who pronounce their benediction upon 

 the conjugal pair, and their cohabitation during night, and the 

 departure of the bridegroom to his house next morning are the 

 chief characteristics. 1 



The orthodox view of this union is that it is not a marriage 

 in the legal or sacramental sense of the term. It is said that 

 the Nambuthiris consort with Nayar women by sambandham, 

 and precisely the same ceremony is gone through, and yet 

 they do not look upon it as a marriage, because the husband 



cannot eat with his sudra wife, and is t.hfirfifnrfi nimhla fn inin 



with her in the wedding feast. It is the same case with 



other classes of Brahmans also. The aristocracy of the 

 District of Malabar, the Rajas who are admittedly the heads 

 of the Nayar caste, and the Nambuthiris who are the expoun- 

 ders of religion, opine, that chastity is not 1 one of the duties pre- 

 scribed for the Nayar community, and slokas (verses) are quoted 

 to prove this. This view is not held in the Cochin State. 



It is also said that either party to the union may terminate 

 it at any time from wantonness, caprice or any other reason, 

 and that if the couple joined together by the presentation of 

 cloths (Pudamuri), were satisfied with one night of hymeneal 

 bliss, there is no legal impediment to prevent their separating 

 without any formality on the following morning. Some are of 

 opinion that some formality is necessary, and that parties 

 should not separate without the approval of the Kamavans or 

 of their relatives or of their caste people. Under the Marumak- 

 kathayam law, he is no way responsible for the maintenance of 

 the children whom he has begotten upon her. Further, the 

 person that begot a child in a Marumakkathayam female was 

 originally regarded as a casual visitor and the sexual relation 

 depended for his continuance on mutual consent.* 1 



The views expressed above are those of the landed 

 aristocracy, and the rulers who were admittedly of the Nayar 

 caste— Nambuthiris of Malabar, who, to gratify their selfish 

 ends, quote chapter and verse of their own creation in support 

 of the custom and teachings, which the Nayars of these days 

 will never submit to. All or nearly all of them cling to one 

 wife for life, and with them sambandham is the real marriage, 

 de facto and de jure. This is the real state of affairs in Cochin 

 and Travancore, as well as in British Malabar. The present 

 and growing tendency in nearly all cases, in which a man, 

 whether a Nambuthiri or a Nayar, consorts with a Nayar 

 woman, is to look upon her as the true wife, and the children 

 of such unions are looked upon as theirs and duly provided 



for, so far as their means permit. 



Nevertheless, the existing state of 



ft \?i K° Chin TribeS and C ? s * es > vol. ii, pages 30-38. 



mmission Report, pases 38-44. 



