The ceremony called giving a cloth, or agree ment for concubinage, is performed in the presence of relatives and neighbours, usually at night. The girl is placed with the man on a mat on the ground, the emblems called lingani and yoni being marked in front. A valuable cloth being offered by the youth, the girl asks her uncle, `Shall I receive Yes.' The same question is put to the mother, who gives her consent. A cheaper cloth is given to the woman's father, mother, sister, brother, and other near relatives. As the succession to the Travancore throne is continued through sister's sons, the unions of the ruling family are those common to the Nairs, ex cept that an Ammachi, or associate of a raja, if put away or widowed, is not allowed to marry any other man. The Ammachi has no communication with the reigning ranis. She is not a member of the royal household, has neither official nor social position at court, and cannot even be seen in public with the ruler whose associate she is. Her issue occupy the same position as herself, and the law of Malabar excludes them from all claims to public recognition.
Nairs either go to the woman chosen, give the cloth, and take her home, or reside with her at her brother's house. In the case of the royal family, a number of splendid cloths are sent, and she is brought to the palace of her consort. But, unlike other Sudra unions, the Ammachi, having once been taken by a raja, is required to remain apart from all other men all the remainder of her days, and is guarded in her own residence. It is not all parents that are willing to give their daughters on these terms. The Tangachis, or daughters of the raja, who, like sons, have no titles of rank, are first married in childhood by a Tirmulpiid. When one attains to maturity, cloth is given by some one who takes her to wife. The nieces, however, the raja's sister's daughters, who, like nephews, have the titles of highness and rani, are married when young to Coil Tamburans, who afterwards live with them so long as both parties are mutually content. It is not necessary that the same person who nomin ally married the lady in childhood should actually consort with her in maturity. The princess can choose for herself, and if one consort dies, another is called in. The Coil Tamburans, or Lords of the Temple, are usually regarded as Kshatriyas, and from their rank are chosen the consorts of the princesses of the realm. Several families of this caste reside in the northern part of the Travancore dominions. The Coil Tamburan men give cloth to Sudra females, while the women associate with Namburi Brahmans.
The reigning family has often died out from lack of direct heirs, and has been recruited by adoptions. There are several families of petty rajas in Travancore allied to the maharajas, the principal of whom is the Mavelikara family, from whom adoption of princesses is usually made, and witliwhom, therefore, close relations of friendship subsist. The present ranis were selected from
this family in 1858. It is said that the Maveli kara line was itself perpetuated in ancient times from Travancore, mutual adoptions thus producing intimate union between the two houses.
The twelve Antartila, intermediate castes be tween Brahmans and Sudras, generally called Ambalavasi, temple dwellers, officiate as temple servants. They mostly follow the nepotistic law. Sudras or Kshatriyas have sometimes to pay heavily for engagements with men of higher caste to consort with their families. The nieces of the Cochin rajas, whose male children succeed to the throne, form alliances with the Namburis, who, however, lose to some extent in caste, forfeit all ancestral privileges, and, becoming dependent on their new connections, receive in compensation large marriage portions and separate establish: ments at the palace. The nieces or sisters of the Travancore royal family intermarry with Kshat riyas only, and this seems to be the sole reason why the Cochin rajas arc admitted to be of higher caste to those of Travancore : the former manage to procure Namburi Brahmans as consorts ; the latter only Kshatriyas of the Coil Tamburan class. Polyandry is not rare among Sudras, carpenters, Ilavars, and other Marumakkal castes.
Ilavar girls, Mr. Mateer further tells us, are all married in infancy as a mere form, at various ages, from one to nine. The person who marries a girl in infancy does not afterwards live with her. To save expense, several girls are usually married at one time. A pandal is erected. They are taken to the river to bathe, dress, and put on their ornaments. On returning, they are accom panied by the barber-women of their caste, who sing marriage songs, and by men, women, and children of their own people, shouting, blowing snake-horns, and thefive kinds' of music. At the entrance of the pandal the noisy display is stopped, and the eldest of the brides is prepared for marriage; her face is veiled, and she is carried by one of her cousins and seated on a decorated platform, while the other brides are seated upon the boards, having their heads covered with white and red cloths. On the left side of each girl is laid a plantain leaf, and on this a nar1 measure, an ednngaly measure made of the wood of Alstonia scholaris, and filled with paddy, a brass vessel containing an edungaly of rice, and a clean cloth folded, on which half a cocoanut containing a little oil and a wick is placed. A brass lamp is also lit, and laid close to each leaf, in addition to silver rings (worth one fan= each) tied with thread. After other of their customary marriage cere monies, on the seventh day the ring tied up by the barber-woman is taken off, the wedding is over, and the bride's party give to the mock bridegroom 23 fanams and a bunch of plantain fruit, with five edungalies of rice and a suit of cloth, and conduct him back to his home.