102 
ON THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS 
is actually performed, the bridegroom suddenly leaves his 
house and starts for some distant place, as if he has sud- 
denly abandoned his intention of marrying, in spite of the 
preparations that have been made for the wedding. His 
intended father-in-law intercepts the young man on his 
way and persuades him to return, promising to give him 
his daughter as a wife ; to this the bridegroom conseats.^^ 
The marriage ceremony is then proceeded with : the Yal- 
luva priest shows the Tali or marriage necklace to the 
assembled guests, pronounces the necessary prayers and 
mantrams, and hands the Tali to the bridegroom, who ties it 
round the neck of his bride. It is highly probable that the 
Pallar adopted a part of their marriage rites, especially 
those resembling the Kasiyatra, from the Brahmans. The 
marriage of the Pallar can be dissolved on either side ; the 
husband divorces his wife by breaking the Tali, and the 
woman can remarry. Should a wife run away from her 
husband, she can onlj remarry with the consent of a pan- 
cayat. A widow can remarry. The dead are either biu-nt 
or buried : burying is cheaper and, therefore, more common 
among the poorer of the lower classes. 
This custom resembles strangely the so-called Kds'ii/dtrd among the 
Brahmans and high-caste Hindus. Pretending to go on a pilgrimage to Kdsi 
(Benares), the hridegToom leaves his house ■with a wooden stick in his right 
hand, a kadjan (palm-leaf) book under his left arm, on his left shoulder he 
carries an umbrella, to which is tied a bundle of clothes, containing also some 
doll and other necessaries for the journey ; his feet are encased in a pair of 
pddarakaa or hard leather shoes, and on his head he -wears a pugii. While 
on the road, he is overtaken by the father and mother of his bride, who carry 
respectively two oocoanuts and two vessels filled with water. The intended 
mother-in-law pours the water over the feet of the j'outh, while her husband 
washes them and then gives him the two cocoanuts. Both entreat him not 
to proceed to Benares, but to return and marry their daughter, to which 
proposals he eventually listens, and the wedding is celebrated as pre-;irranged. 
The origin of this custom may be that, though every Brahman should ^-isit 
Benares in order to stxidy there, the young man cannot do so if he becomes 
a grhastha or family man. He saves, therefore, his conscience by simulating 
an immediate departure to Kasl and manifesting thus his good intentions, 
which, though not carried out, will be credited to him as if he had actually 
performed tlio pilgrimage. 
