The caste have at present no endogamous divisions and still admit
members of other castes with the exception of the very lowest. But
social gradations exist to a certain extent among the members
according to the position of their male ancestors, a Daharia Audhelia,
for instance, being reluctant to eat or intermarry with a Panka
Audhelia. Under these circumstances it has become a rule among the
Audhelias not to eat with their caste-fellows excepting their own
relations. On the occasion of a caste feast, therefore, each guest
prepares his own food, taking only uncooked grain from his host. At
present seven _gotras_ or exogamous divisions appear to have been
formed in the caste with the names of Pachbhaiya, Chhahri, Kalkhor,
Bachhawat, Dhanawat, Bhainsa and Limuan. The following story exists as
to the origin of these _gotras_: There were formerly three brothers,
Sahasman, Budha and Mangal, who were Sansis or robbers. One evening
the three brothers halted in a forest and went to look for food. One
brought back a buffalo-horn, another a peacock's feather and the
youngest, Mangal, brought plums. The other brothers asked Mangal to
let them share his plums, to which he agreed on condition that one
of the brothers should give his daughter to him in marriage. As
Mangal and his brothers were of one _gotra_ or section, and the
marriage would thus involve splitting up the _gotra_, the brothers
were doubtful whether it could be performed. They sought about for
some sign to determine this difficult question, and decided that if
Mangal succeeded in breaking in pieces an iron image of a cat simply
by blows of his naked fist, it would be a sufficient indication
that they might split up their _gotra_. Mangal was therefore put
to the ordeal and succeeded in breaking the image, so the three
brothers split up their _gotra_, the eldest assuming the _gotra_
name of Bhainsa because he had found a buffalo-horn, the second that
of Kalkhor, which is stated to mean peacock, and the third that of
Chhahri, which at any rate does not mean a plum. The word Chhahri
means either 'shadow,' or 'one who washes the clothes of a woman in
confinement.' If we assume it to have the latter meaning, it may be
due to the fact that Mangal had to wash the clothes of his own wife,
not being able to induce a professional washerman to do so on account
of the incestuous nature of the connection. As the eldest brother
gave his daughter in an incestuous marriage he was also degraded, and
became the ancestor of the Kanjars or prostitutes, who, it is said,
to the present day do not solicit Audhelias in consideration of the
consanguinity existing between them. The story itself sufficiently
indicates the low and mixed descent of the Audhelias, and its real
meaning may possibly be that when they first began to form a separate
caste they permitted incestuous marriages on account of the paucity of
their members. A curious point about the story is that the incestuous
nature of the connection is not taken to be the most pressing objection
to the marriage of Mangal with his own niece, but the violation of the
caste rule prohibiting marriage within the same _gotra_. Bachhawat
and Dhanawat are the names of sections of the Banjara caste, and
the persons of these _gotras_ among the Audhelias are probably
the descendants of illicit connections among Banjaras. The word
Pachbhaiya means 'five brothers,' and this name possibly commemorates a
polyandrous connection of some Audhelia woman. Limuan means a tortoise,
which is a section of many castes. Several of the section-names are
thus totemistic, and, as in other castes, some reverence is paid to
the animal from whom the name is derived. At present the Audhelias
forbid marriage within the same _gotra_ and also the union of first
cousins. Girls are married between five and seven years of age as their
numbers are scarce, and they are engaged as early as possible. Unless
weddings are arranged by exchanging girls between two families, a
high bride-price, often amounting to as much as Rs. 60, is paid. No
stigma is incurred, however, if a girl should remain unmarried till
she arrives at adolescence, but, on the contrary, a higher price is
then obtained for her. Sexual licence either before or after marriage
is considered a venial offence, but a woman detected in a _liaison_
with a man of one of the lowest castes is turned out of caste. Widow
marriage and divorce are freely allowed.