Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Vol. 3 of 4
Marriage within the clan is forbidden and also the union of first cousins. Girls may be married at any age, and are sometimes united to husbands much younger than themselves. Four castemen of standing carry the proposal of marriage from the boy's father, and the girl's father, being forewarned, sends others to meet them. One of the ambassadors opens the conversation by saying, 'we have the milk and you have the milk-pail; let them be joined.' To which the girl's party, if the match be agreeable, will reply, Yes, we have the tamarind and you have the mango if the panckes agree let there be a marriage. The boy's father gives the girl's father five areca-nuts, and the latter returns them and they clasp each other round the neck. When the wedding pro cession reaches the bride's village it is met by their party, and one of them takes the sarota or iron nut-cutter, which the bridegroom holds in his hand, and twirls it about in the air several times. The ceremony is performed by walking round the sacred pole, and the party return to the bride groom's lodging, where his brother-ln-law fills the bride's lap with sweetmeats and water-nut as an omen of fertility. The mailiar or small wedding-cakes of wheat fried in sesamum oil are distributed to all members of the caste present at the wedding. While the bridegroom's party is absent at the bride's house, the women who remain behind enjoy amuse ments of their own. One Of them strips herself naked, tying up her hair like a religious mendicant, and is known as Baba or holy father. In this state she romps with her companions in turn, while the others laugh and applaud. Occasionally some man hides himself in a place where he can be a witness of their play, but if they discover him he is beaten severely with belnas or wooden bread-rollers. Widow-marriage and divorce are permitted, the widow being usually expected to marry her late husband's younger brother, whether he already has a wife or not. Sexual offences are not severely reprobated, and may be atoned for by a feast to the caste fellows.
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