1834.] Memoir of the Survei/ of Travancore^ 70 



profusion) but indispensable with all, he who personates the bride- 

 groom receives a certain recompense, any of equal or superior rank 

 are eligible, but a number and variety of minute combinationsf of 

 which the detail may be postponed are required in the selection. The 

 astrologer decides those points, and fixes the auspicious moment for 

 performance ; receiving the Tally though a requisite, is a mere form, 

 and conveys no claim to a more intimate connection, altho'on the 

 death of either, the survivor practises those ceremonies that 

 would be observed, were the union of a more material 

 nature. Such is the premature ripeness of the climate, that 

 at the age of eleven or twelve years a girl has reached maturity, 

 -the moment of its attainment is announced to the neighbourhood 

 by a loud chorus of the women, who have collected to celebrate 

 the occasion, a rude minstrelsy, repeated at intervals for several 

 successive days, suitors early present themselves, and the accepta- 

 tion of a lover is sig:nified by receiving from him a iVIoondoo, some 

 brass utensils and other furniture, also annually clothes, oil, &c. 

 &c. amounting in ordinary cases to about forty or fifty Rupees, 

 four times that sum would be a handsome establishment, which 

 scarcely five in a hundred could afford, and among the lower classes 

 half of it may be considered near the medium. This union is term- 

 ed Vissivassum, a great misnomer, as it in no measure binds either 

 party, and perhaps we should overrate their morality in supposing 

 that one such union in ten continued for life, and where the con- 

 nection is of such stability, it is a matter of understanding more 

 than enactment. The mistress of a Nair, generally resides in her 

 brother's house, having no authority in that of her paramour, by 

 whom she is visited at intervals, but he in the mean time, must not 

 be too scrupulous in guarding her against the encroachments of in- 

 terloping competitors. Hearts equally capacious as susceptible, 

 are not always engrossed by one lover, if too fastidious in admitting 

 an associate, he is discarded, as the female enjoys in some measure 

 the power of repudiating, a tempting prerogative, that the levity 

 with which they bestow or transfer their favors, would prove was too 

 often exercised, but prompted by grosser seductions, and indefati- 

 gable in their loves, they are represented as inviting or enduring 

 from mercinary motives, an endless succession of paramours, but 

 the imputation appears too exclusive in its obloquy, as they would 

 seem to be the sport of the same caprice, with which they are re- 



t The parties must have been born under the same Planet. The astrolo- 

 ger with the high orders of the village Register with careful accuracy the 

 moment of birth. 



