Owing to the scarcity of women in the caste a widow is seldom allowed
to go out of the family, and when her husband dies she is taken either
by his elder or younger brother; this is in opposition to the usual
Hindu practice, which forbids the marriage of a woman to her deceased
husband's elder brother, on the ground that as successor to the
headship of the joint family he stands to her, at least potentially,
in the light of a father. If the widow prefers another man and runs
away to him, the first husband's relatives claim compensation, and
threaten, in the event of its being refused, to abduct a girl from
this man's family in exchange for the widow. But no case of abduction
has occurred in recent years. In Berar the compensation claimed in
the case of a woman marrying out of the family amounts to Rs. 75,
with Rs. 5 for the Naik or headman of the family. Should the widow
elope without her brother-in-law's consent, he chooses ten or twelve
of his friends to go and sit _dharna_ (starving themselves) before
the hut of the man who has taken her. He is then bound to supply
these men with food and liquor until he has paid the customary sum,
when he may marry the widow. [200] In the event of the second husband
being too poor to pay monetary compensation, he gives a goat, which
is cut into eighteen pieces and distributed to the community. [201]