- What of the life of a man?
- It is that of the dog at the palace gate.
- What of the days of a woman?
- They are like the gently waving leaves in a festoon.
"Divorce is readily permitted on the usual payments, and divorcées and widows may remarry. A married woman who goes astray is brought before the Kambliyan, who delivers a homily, and then orders the man's waist-string to be tied round her neck. This legitimatises any children they may have." The Valaiyans of Pattukkōttai in the Tanjore district say that intimacy between a man and woman before marriage is tolerated, and that the children of such a union are regarded as members of the caste, and permitted to intermarry with others, provided the parents pay a nominal penalty imposed by the caste council.
In connection with the Valaiyans of the Trichinopoly district, Mr. Hemingway writes that "they recognise three forms of marriage, the most usual of which consists in the bridegroom's party going to the girl's house with three marakkāls of rice and a cock on an auspicious day, and in both parties having a feast there. Sometimes the young man's sister goes to the girl's house, ties a tāli round her neck, and takes her away. The ordinary form of marriage, called big marriage, is sometimes used with variations, but the Valaiyans do not like it, and say that the two other forms result in more prolific unions. They tolerate unchastity before marriage, and allow parties to marry even after several children have been born, the marriage legitimatising them. They permit remarriage of widows and divorced women. Women convicted of immorality are garlanded with erukku (Calotropis gigantea) flowers, and made to carry a basket of mud round the village. Men who too frequently
