287 



History of the Rajjioossies. 



[Oct. 



the temple of Hunooman and deposits there. To procure these, 

 the boy's father, an elder brother, or an uncle accompanied by his 

 wife, proceeds to the temple, for which purpose the woman is provid- 

 ed with a basket, in which is placed, a koorhar, (a small hatchet,) 

 and the ghanna bread formerly described ; the husband having tied 

 the corner of his own hottur to that of his wife's sary, four men 

 support a spread cloth over their heads, by way of a canopy, under 

 which they move in procession, with music, from the mandwah to 

 the temple, where a soopary (nut) and five betel leaves are placed be- 

 fore the shrine, and blessinfis supplicated. Then the branches of 

 the niaui^oe tree, &c. are deposited in the basket, and the party 

 return in the sante manner to their home. The contents, of the 

 basket, namely the hatchet, bread, grass, and branches are tied to- 

 gether with a string or piece of rope, and fastened to one of the 

 front posts of the mandwah, five or six feet from the floor. This 

 is what is termed the dewuk or the representation of the super- 

 intending powers that preside at nuptial ceremonies. 



Early in the evening they sit down to the feast prepared for them, 

 at which a small" quantity of arrack is served out: but this is the 

 onlv meal at which they partake of animal food or spirits, during 

 the continuance of the marriage ceremonies, as the mandwah is 

 considered to be consecrated from the dewuk having been placed 

 there. On this night they have the gondull ceremony, which 

 consists in a recitation and chanting with music of legend?, 

 and old stories of some former celebrated Princes. The instru- 

 ments in use are of three descriptions; — first the sumball, 2d the 

 taall, and 3d toontoona. Previously to the gondull beginning, the 

 boy's father procures five stalks of sugar cane ; if these are not to 

 be had, five stalks of jowary are taken as a substitute, and five 

 cakes of wheat bread, that have been fried in oil ; to each of the 

 stalks of sugar cane a cake of bread is fastened by a loose string, 

 so that when the bunch of canes is placed upright on the floor, and 

 the lower ends extended to some distance from each other, the 

 cakes become suspended in the middle : a quarter of a seer of ba- 

 jeeree grain, and the same quantity of wheat is placed on the floor 

 immediately under the cakes. This grain is shaped into a square 

 platform figure, and lines being drawn across from opj>osite angles 

 to divide it into four divisions, a copper pot, filled with water, is 

 placed on the grain, and a piece of cocoanut, a soopary (nut, )'and 

 five betel leaves, are deposited on the mouth of this vessel ; one of 

 the gondully's iron lamps is put in requisition and placed near the 



