Note 131 — Volume II. (continued 2)

Marriage ceremony. 12. There is nothing very remarkable about the marriage ceremony. The bride is selected by the boy’s father and approved of by the Mahto. The boy’s father then on a date (lagan) fixed by a Brâhman sends or takes to the bride’s father a present which fixes the betrothal. This is known as neg bharna, and in some places consists of four rupees in cash, two sers turmeric, two sers oil, and two sers coarse sugar (gur); in others of one and-a-quarter sers turmeric, one and-a-quarter sers sugar, and one and-a-quarter sers of oil. The marriage pavilion (mânro) has the middle post of siddh wood (Hardwickia binata). It is erected by the sister or paternal aunt of the bride, who receives a small present for doing this. Five days before marriage the matmangar ceremony is performed in the usual way as described in the case of the Bhuiyas, except that the earth is dug by the father’s sister’s husband (phûpha) of the bride, and is brought home by five unmarried girls of the bride’s sept, who make out of it a rude altar (bedi) in the marriage shed, on which is placed the lucky water jar (kalsa), and a rude representation of parrots (suga) sitting on a tree, which is made by the village carpenter out of the wood of the cotton-tree (semal). On this day the family priest (purohit) sprinkles the bride and bridegroom with a bunch of dûb grass soaked in turmeric and oil (haldi charhâna). This is done five times. Before the procession starts the bridegroom’s mother does the “waving” ceremony (parachhan), as described in connection with the Bhuiyârs. The bridegroom’s procession is met by the bride’s friends outside the village, and they embrace (meli jholi). On reaching the reception place (janwânsa) the bridegroom’s father takes the wedding present (charhauwa) to the bride. This consists of some jewelry and a sheet for the girl and her mother. When the bridegroom arrives he and the bride are seated on leaf mats or stools in a square (chauk) made under the marriage shed: the bride’s father washes the feet of the bridegroom, and her mother does the same for the bride. Then the hands of the pair are joined, and the bride’s father pours water over them, while the Pandit131 reads the sankalpa or “verses of donation.” They then walk five times round the parrot images and water jar, the girl’s brother pouring a handful of parched rice (lawa) over them each time they pass; while some parched grain is thrown on the sacred fire (hom), which is kept burning in the shed. Then the pair sit down, and the bridegroom marks the right foot of the bride with red lead, and taking five pinches of it between the thumb and the first finger of his right hand rubs it in the parting of her hair. This is the binding portion of the ceremony. Then the wife of the bride’s brother (bhaujâi) sprinkles some red lead (sendur chhirakna) over the bridegroom and gets a small present. She then escorts the pair into the retiring room (kohabar), the walls of which are marked with rude figures drawn in red clay (geru). Over these the bridegroom pours some oil, and has to submit to a good deal of coarse practical jokes from the female relations of the bride.132 Next morning is the khichari or ceremony of confarreatio, when the bridegroom and bride eat together. After this is the mânro hilâi or “shaking of the marriage shed.” The father of the bridegroom pulls up and pitches away one of the poles of the pavilion amid the shouts of his party. This may possibly be a survival of marriage by capture. On the bridegroom arriving at his house his sister, apparently with the same idea, blocks the door, and will not admit the bride until she gets a present. At the bridegroom’s house the kohabar ceremony, as above described, is again performed. A day or two after this, on a day fixed by the Pandit, some woman of the family takes the wreaths of mango leaves (bandanwâr) which decorated the door and the sacred water jar (kalsa), and throws them into a stream. The deities that preside over marriages are Gauri (Devi) and Ganesa. Images of them made of cow-dung are placed in the marriage shed, and are rubbed with a little of the red lead before it is applied to the head of the bride. A marriage can be broken off after the first embassage (puchhâwa) of the headman, but once the red lead is applied it is final.