Kettu kalyanam used to be prevalent among marumakkathayam (matrilineal) families of Kerala and it was an ancient custom of proxy weddings. It was a symbolic ritual that had to be celebrated before a girl attained puberty, and was often conducted at the same time and place for all the girls in a family from three to about ten years of age. Each family invited another designated family whose senior-most member had the right to perform such proxy marriages for their daughters. For example, only the Raja of Kodungallur had the right to conduct this ceremony for the girls of the family of Zamorin. The actual wedding takes place years later, and the bridegroom is a different person. On the day chosen for the ritual, the ‘groom’ is received with royal honors by the eldest male member of the girl’s family. He is taken in a ceremonial procession to a specially built and elaborately decorated pandal (marquee). The girls, dressed in neinnaudukkal (traditional style) and wearing the manthrakod