The Colas c12.84

c12.84

A number of quaint social customs and beliefs, some of which may be of a non-Tamil origin, can be traced in the literature we have been dealing with. The practice of speeding the parting guest known as *saptapadi* in Sanskrit, is clearly mentioned in the *Porunar-ārṟuppaḍai*,¹⁰⁹ which says that Karikāla accompanied his guest on foot for a distance of ‘seven steps’ before requesting him to mount a chariot drawn by four milk-white steeds. Each householder laid out some food, rice mixed with flesh, every day before his meal, for crows to feed on.¹¹⁰ The slaughter of a cow, the destruction of a fœtus, the killing of a brahman were counted among the most heinous offences, but worse than these was ingratitude, according to the established code.¹¹¹ Women of the courtesan class when they were guilty of unprofessional conduct were punished by being compelled to carry seven bricks on their heads round the public theatre (*arangu*) and apparently expelled from the class thereafter.¹¹² A bath in the sea at Kanyākumārī was held to absolve a woman from the sin of incest; at any rate it was accepted as an act of penance for those who had incurred the sin.¹¹³ After child-birth women bathed at night in tanks on the tenth day.¹¹⁴ The phenomena of possession and the evil eye were believed in¹¹⁵ and carefully guarded against by the hair of children being dressed with ghee and white mustard. Divination was practised¹¹⁶ and faith in omens was common. The author of the *Śilappadikāram* says picturesquely that coming events were foreshadowed by the throbbing of the left eye of Kaṇṇaki and the right one of Mādavi¹¹⁷ on the day of the festival of Indra.