Note 84 — Volume II.

Ceremonies at the house of the bride. 16. At the bride’s house a marriage shed (mânro) has been erected. The posts, nine in number, are formed of the wood of the siddh tree (Hardwickia binata), and roofed with bamboos. The first post is erected by the village Baiga, and the work finished by the male relations of the bride. Mango leaves are hung on the pillars. At the same time a post of siddh wood is planted in the ground at the door of the cook-house and covered with a cloth. This post is decorated with red lead and turmeric, and is known as “the auspicious one” (Kalyâni). When the procession approaches the bride’s house, her relatives and friends go in a body (paghar) to receive the bridegroom. The bridegroom is led in and seated in the square (chauk) in the court-yards opposite his father-in-law, who makes a mark (tîka) of rice and curd on his forehead. The bridegroom then with his friends retires to the place arranged for them under a shady tree near the village. This is the janwânsa. The relatives of the bride follow them there and wash their feet. After this the bridegroom’s father sends the bride a piece of stamped cloth (chunari), which she wears at the wedding. Her father then invites the bridegroom to his house, where he enters, and, seizing the bride roughly by the hand (an obvious survival of marriage by capture84) brings her out into the marriage shed, and seats her on his left near a branch of the siddh tree, which is fixed in the ground in the centre of the shed. He then goes through the form of marrying himself to the tree by marking it with red lead, and after this rubs red lead on the parting of the bride’s hair. This done, the bride’s father, or in some instances a Brâhman, who gets a fee of one rupee, ties the garments of the pair in a knot and they walk round the siddh branch five times. Each time as they go round when they approach the water jar (kalsa85) the bride’s brother pours a little rice into the bride’s bosom. The bridegroom then with his party retires. Next morning is the ceremony of eating khichari or boiled rice and pulse. The bridegroom goes to the bride’s house accompanied by five unmarried boys of the same sept as himself. It is the etiquette that he refuses to eat until he gets a present. After this the clansmen on both sides are entertained.