A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c12.57

c12.57

The habit of eating betel-leaves with lime and areca-nut perhaps came into use only after the Sangam age. Women are said to have given up eating greens and bathing in cold water when their husbands fell in battle. The lot of widows was a hard one; they had to cut off their hair, discard all ornaments, and only eat the plainest food. No wonder, perhaps, that some wives preferred to die with their husbands and earn fame as *satis*. The tonsure of widows, it may be noted by the way, like the tying of the *tāli* at the marriage ceremony, was obviously a pre-Aryan Tamil custom taken over and perpetuated into later times.