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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[Nov. 1, 1872.
subject to him, they can do nothing unless his consent is first obtained, no marriage can be solemnised or suit instituted unless he agrees. He is looked up to with respect second only to that shown to the zamindar : all the business of the family is conducted through him, he pays the rent and manages all money matters. He is excused from labour in the fields and is al- lowed to eat salt while the other members of the family must content themselves with the saline matter extracted from the ashes of plantain and other trees. He is also allowed to have two or more wives, while no other person is allowed to have more than one, and his favourite wife is excused from working in the fields and allowed to eat salt.
The dress of the Palis is very different from that worn by ordinary Hindus ; in the hot weather the men wear nothin'g but a thread round the loins which is called (Tr) sikhai and on it a piece of rag called pâjhal (re ), on great occasions they also wear a cloth on their heads or round their body, and in the cold weather a piece of cloth is given them by the head of the family and returned to him again at the beginning of the hot season. They all wear a necklace of wooden beads, their head is shaved all round, and the hair which is left is tied in a knot at the top. The women Weave a cloth of jute called mekhri (daft), which is their only dress. It is about three haths in length and two in breadth and coloured with red, black, and white stripes. This cloth is not worn across the shoulder as is usual amongst Hindu women, but in a straight line across the breasts under the armpits falling down as low as the knees. The use of these mekhris 18 gra- dually being discontinued, and cotton cloths are being introduced, coloured in the same way, and worn in the same manner; they are onlled påtâni (Terra). The women attend hds and markets and carry burdens on their heads; they carry their children hanging in a cloth at their backs, and help the men to work in the fields ; very few of them wear silver or metal ornaments, but all have bangles of conch shell.
They have no fixed age for marriago; some of the women remain unmarried till they are grown up, while others are married when they are three or four years old. In an ordinary marriage the amount of the dower to be paid by the bride groom is fixed by the mediation of a Ghatah, called by the Palis kamiya' (Tur). After this is settled the bridegroom's relatives go to the
bride's house and give her family betelnut and pay part of the money ; this is called (fr) darguya. When all the money has been paid, the marriage day is fixed and procession is formed consisting principally of women who go to the bride's house ; after they have been welcomed by the girl's family, her sister's husband or some other relative takes her on his back and carries her to the bridegroom's house; the bride is now often brought in a doli, no music or dancing is used at the procession; the women of both the bride and bridegroom's party, clap their hands as they go along and pretend to quarrel with each other and repeat the following mantra“ We have been to the ploughed field
We have come to the bridegroom's house
Where is your water pot tr wash our feet." When the bride reaches the bridegroom's house, his friends plant four plantain trees in the courtyard and connect them with a thatched roof, covering a gunny-cloth spread on the ground on which the bride and bridegroom are made to sit. The bridegroom first of all stands under the roof and the bride makes a pradakshin round him him fi
five times, they then sit down facing the east. The bride sits at the right hand of the bridegroom, no priest is required for this marriage, but if a priest is employed, he sits facing the north to the right hand of the bride and bridegroom and recites some mantras. The bride's guardian then gives her to the bridegroom and joins their hands and pours water over them and says, “From this day the honour of the family is in your hands." An offering is then made which is called an “Arghya," though the word seems to be used with # meaning different to that usually ascribed to it; it consists of rice, cowdang, vermilion, a hair comb, and a candlestick with five branches, and two pots of water each containing a mango branch, with a garland of flowers made of sola.
The father and mother of the bridegroom then come and the father places the garland on the bridegroom's head and the mother places it on the bride's head, and then they both make them & present, and throw the pots of water with the mango branches over them. After that they take the arghys and invoke blessings on them, all the friends do the same, and the bride and bridegroom present each other with betelnut, and the bride will distribute rice among the guests. The guardian of the bridegroom then washes the feet of the mahant, or principal por
