myrabolam (Terminalia fruit) in that of the bridegroom; and finally the people present in the pandal (booth) throw rice and saffron (turmeric) over them. Widows and divorced women may marry again. They are Vaishnavites, but some of them also worship Kāli or Durga. They employ Bairāgis, and occasionally Brāhmans, as their priests. They burn their dead, and perform srāddha (annual memorial ceremony). Their titles are Chetti (or Mahā Chetti) and Bēhara." The custom of the bridal pair bathing in water from seven different houses obtains among many Oriya castes, including Brāhmans. It is known by the name of pāni-tula. The water is brought by married girls, who have not reached puberty, on the night preceding the wedding day, and the bride and bridegroom wash in it before dawn. This bath is called koili pāni snāno, or cuckoo water-bath. The koil is the Indian koel or cuckoo (Eudynamis honorata), whose crescendo cry ku-il, ku-il, is trying to the nerves during the hot season.
The following proverbs * [1]relating to washermen may be quoted: —
- Get a new washerman, and an old barber.
- The washerman knows the defects of the village (i.e., he learns a good deal about the private affairs of the various families, when receiving and delivering the clothes).
- When a washerman gets sick, his sickness must leave him at the stone. The stone referred to is the large stone, on which the washerman cleans cloths, and the proverb denotes that,
however sick a washerman may be, his work must be done.
Dhoddi. — Dhoddi, meaning a court or back-yard, cattle-pen, or sheep-fold, has been recorded as an exogamous sept of Dēvānga, Koppala Velama, Karna Sālē, Māla, and Yānādi.
- ↑ * Rev. II. Jensen. Classified Collection of Tamil Proverbs, 1897.
