Note 122 — Volume II. (continued 2)

Marriage rules. 4. In Mirzapur the Nârâyaniha and Pânchopiriha septs are exogamous, and intermarry on equal terms: they so far practise hypergamy that they give daughters to the Maiwarha, but do not take their daughters in return. This rule of exogamy is reinforced by the prohibition against marrying a daughter into a family into which a son has been already married; and it seems to be a general condition that marriage does not take place between families connected within the period of recollection of relationship, which is five or six generations. The two great sub-castes, Kharê and Dhusiya, are endogamous, and do not intermarry or eat together. The Mirzapur branch have now adopted adult marriages, which take place at the age of ten or twelve.122 Polygamy is permitted, but the tendency seems to be to restrict it to the case when the first wife becomes barren. Marriages are arranged by some of the seniors of the tribe, and the parties have no power of selection. No bride-price is paid, and the giving of a dowry, though permitted and approved, is not compulsory. Polyandry and concubinage with a woman not of the tribe are prohibited. Widows are remarried by the sagâi form only to widowers, the match being arranged by the father or brother of the widow. The man goes to the house of the widow on an auspicious day, taking with him a yellow sheet and one or two articles of jewelry. These the bride puts on, and this is the binding part of the ceremony. Her new husband then eats with the relations of his wife, takes her home next day, and feeds his clansmen. Children by such a marriage are considered legitimate, and succeed on an equality with children of a regular marriage. The levirate is permitted on the usual condition, that the younger brother of the deceased husband can claim the widow: if he declines the match she can marry a stranger, and in the latter case the property of the deceased husband with his children remains in the charge of their father’s brother, who rears them and makes the property over to the sons when they attain puberty. They pretend to have a regular system of adoption like that of the higher castes: as a matter of practice, however, a sonless man can adopt only the son of his brother, and in preference of his elder brother. There is nothing peculiar about the rules of succession. Beena marriage (gharjanwai) is recognised in the case of poor people when the son-in-law lives some time on probation in the house of his father-in-law. Intertribal infidelity on the part of husband and wife is thought little of, and divorce is practically unknown, except when ill-usage of an aggravated form accompanies adultery on the part of the husband. A married woman detected in an intrigue with a man of another tribe is permanently expelled. She usually turns Muhammadan or becomes a prostitute.