Banjara marriages are frequently held in the rains, a season forbidden
to other Hindus, but naturally the most convenient to them, because
in the dry weather they are usually travelling. For the marriage
ceremony they pitch a tent in lieu of the marriage-shed, and on the
ground they place two rice-pounding pestles, round which the bride and
bridegroom make the seven turns. Others substitute for the pestles
a pack-saddle with two bags of grain in order to symbolise their
camp life. During the turns the girl's hand is held by the Joshi
or village priest, or some other Brahman, in case she should fall;
such an occurrence being probably a very unlucky omen. Afterwards,
the girl runs away and the Brahman has to pursue and catch her. In
Bhandara the girl is clad only in a light skirt and breast-cloth,
and her body is rubbed all over with oil in order to make his
task more difficult. During this time the bride's party pelt the
Brahman with rice, turmeric and areca-nuts, and sometimes even with
stones; and if he is forced to cry with the pain, it is considered
lucky. But if he finally catches the girl, he is conducted to a dais
and sits there holding a brass plate in front of him, into which the
bridegroom's party drop presents. A case is mentioned of a Brahman
having obtained Rs. 70 in this manner. Among the Mathuria Banjaras
of Berar the ceremony resembles the usual Hindu type. [197] Before
the wedding the families bring the branches of eight or ten different
kinds of trees, and perform the _hom_ or fire sacrifice with them. A
Brahman knots the clothes of the couple together, and they walk round
the fire. When the bride arrives at the bridegroom's hamlet after the
wedding, two small brass vessels are given to her; she fetches water
in these and returns them to the women of the boy's family, who mix
this with other water previously drawn, and the girl, who up to this
period was considered of no caste at all, becomes a Mathuria. [198]
Food is cooked with this water, and the bride and bridegroom are
formally received into the husband's _kuri_ or hamlet. It is possible
that the mixing of the water may be a survival of the blood covenant,
whereby a girl was received into her husband's clan on her marriage
by her blood being mixed with that of her husband. [199] Or it may be
simply symbolical of the union of the families. In some localities
after the wedding the bride and bridegroom are made to stand on two
bullocks, which are driven forward, and it is believed that whichever
of them falls off first will be the first to die.