Note 5 — G

Marriage rules. 3. The age for marriage runs from five to twelve, and the better-off members of the caste marry their daughters in infancy. One of the clansmen acts as negotiator (agua). It is forbidden to marry again during the lifetime of the first wife without leave of the tribal council. The levirate is permitted and prevails generally, but it is not enforced on the widow, and her right to select a second partner is recognised.5 Marriage is as usual of three forms: shâdi or charhauwa, the respectable ritual; dola, that used by poor people, and sagâi for widows. In the first the worshipping of the bridegroom’s feet (pairpûja) by the father of the bride and the smearing of vermilion (sendurdân) on the parting of the bride’s hair are regarded as the binding part of the ceremony, which goes through the usual states of betrothal (barrekhi) and fixing of the marriage day (lagan). Then comes a special ceremony called “the touching of the grain” (anâj chhûna); at a lucky time fixed by the Pandit they send for some urdi pulse and gram, and the women begin to grind it. During this ceremony no widow or woman married by sagâi is allowed to be present. Then follows the singing (gitgauna), when the women commence the marriage songs, and next comes the matmangara, when some earth is collected and brought into the marriage shed, when all the women get some sweets and oil for their hair. Then follows the anointing (tel hardi), and on the day before the procession starts the clansmen are fed (bhatwân), while the father and mother of the bridegroom do the mâtri or mantri pûja, which is an emblematical remarriage. Their clothes are tied together by the Brâhman, their feet stained with dye (mahâwar), and they worship an image of the nine planets (naugraha) made of cow-dung. At the bride’s door the duâr pûja is done in the usual way. The clansmen are then fed, and some food is sent from the bride’s house for the bridegroom. While he eats it the barber rubs his father’s feet with a mixture of barley flour and turmeric known as chîkas, and the clansmen are given a mixture of sugar and pepper dissolved in water (mirchwân) to drink. On the day after the marriage (barhâr) the boy is solemnly fed on rice and pulse (khichari). When the bride arrives at her husband’s house, Gangaji, Sati and Mahâdeva are worshipped, and on the fourth day (chauthi) the bride’s father sends a present of rice, sweetmeats, butter, clothes, etc., out of which part is set aside as an offering to the godlings (deota). This is known as bujhwat.