The tribe consider that a boy should be married when he has learnt to
drive the plough, and a girl when she is able to manage her household
affairs. When a father can afford a bride for his son, he and his
relatives go to the girl's village, taking with them ten or fifteen
cakes of bread and a bottle of liquor. He stays with some relative and
sends to ask the girl's father if he will give his daughter to the
inquirer's son. If the former agrees, the bread and liquor are sent
over to him, and he drinks three cups of the spirit as a pledge of
the betrothal, the remainder being distributed to the company. This is
known as _Tatia kholna_ or 'the opening of the door,' and is followed
some days afterwards by a similar ceremonial which constitutes the
regular betrothal. On this occasion the father agrees to marry his
daughter within a year and demands the bride-price, which consists
of rice, cloth, a goat and other articles, the total value being
about five rupees. A date is next fixed for the wedding, the day
selected being usually a Monday or Friday, but no date or month is
forbidden. The number of days to the wedding are then counted, and
two knotted strings are given to each party, with a knot for each
day up to that on which the anointings with oil and turmeric will
commence at the bridegroom's and bride's houses. Every day one knot
is untied at each house up to that on which the ceremonies begin,
and thus the correct date for them is known. The invitations to the
wedding are given by distributing rice coloured yellow with turmeric
to all members of the caste in the locality, with the intimation
that the wedding procession will start on a certain day and that they
will be pleased to attend. During the four days that they are being
anointed the bride and bridegroom dance at their respective houses
to the accompaniment of drums and other instruments. For the wedding
ceremony a number of Hindu rites have been adopted. The eldest sister
of the bridegroom or bride is known as the _sawasin_ and her husband as
the _sawasa_, and these persons seem to act as the representatives of
the bridal couple throughout the marriage and to receive all presents
on their behalf. The custom is almost universal among the Hindus,
and it is possible that they are intended to act as substitutes and
to receive any strokes of evil fortune which may befall the bridal
pair at a season at which they are peculiarly liable to it. The
couple go round the sacred post, and afterwards the bridegroom daubs
the bride's forehead with red lead seven times and covers her head
with her cloth to show that she has become a married woman. After
the wedding the bridegroom's parents say to him, "Now your parents
have done everything they could for you, and you must manage your
own house." The expenditure on an average wedding is about fifteen
or twenty rupees. A widow is usually taken in marriage by her late
husband's younger brother or Dewar, or by one of his relatives. If
she marries an outsider, the Dewar realises twelve rupees from him
in compensation for her loss. But if there is no Dewar this sum is
not payable to her first husband's elder brother or her own father,
because they could not have married her and hence are not held to be
injured by a stranger doing so. If a woman is divorced and another
man wishes to marry her, he must make a similar payment of twelve
rupees to the first husband, together with a goat and liquor for the
penal feast. The Bhainas bury or burn the dead according as their
means permit.