together form the garland and cleave together, like water and the reed growing in it." If a Pulavan is present, he adds a further blessing, and the little fingers of the contracting couple are linked together, anointed with milk, and then separated.
The death ceremonies are not peculiar, except that the torch for the pyre is carried by a Paraiyan, and not, as among most castes, by the chief mourner, and that no ceremonies are performed after the third day. The custom is to collect the bones on that day and throw them into water. The barber then pours a mixture of milk and ghi (clarified butter) over a green tree, crying poli, poli.
The caste has its own beggars, called Mudavāndi (q.v.).
Kongara (crane).—An exogamous sept of Padma Sālē, and Kamma.
Konhoro.—A title of Bolāsi.
Konkani.—Defined, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a territorial or linguistic term, meaning a dweller in the Konkan country (Canara), or a person speaking the Konkani dialect of Marāthi. Kadu Konkani (bastard Konkani) is a name opposed to the Gōd or pure Konkanis. In South Canara, "the Konkani Brāhmans are the trading and shop-keeping class, and,in the most out-of-the-way spots, the Konkani village shop is to be found." * [1]
The following note on Konkanis is extracted from the Travancore Census Report, 1901. "The Konkanis include the Brāhman, Kshatriya, and Vaisya castes of the Sārasvata section of the Gauda Brāhmans. The Brāhmans of this community differ, however, from the Konkanastha Mahārāshtra Brāhmans belonging to the
- ↑ * Manual of the South Canara district.
