Note 21 — Chapter VII · TREE AND SERPENT WORSHIP.
Reading edition
A common custom among Hindus is for a person who has lost his two wives and wishes to marry a third, to be first married to a Rui plant, and then to the actual bride. His marriage with the Rui plant is considered as a third marriage. After the marriage, the Rui plant is cut down and buried, and thus the marriage with the third bride is considered to be a fourth marriage. The marriage with the Rui plant has been adopted in the belief that the third wife is sure to die unless the spirit of the deceased is made to enter the Rui plant.21