Girls are usually married between the ages of five and eleven and boys
between ten and twenty. The Kunbis still think it a mark of social
distinction to have their daughters married as young as possible. The
recognised bride-price is about twenty rupees, but much larger sums are
often paid. The boy's father goes in search of a girl to be married
to his son, and when the bride-price has been settled and the match
arranged the ceremony of Mangni or betrothal takes place. In the first
place the boy's father proceeds to his future daughter-in-law's house,
where he washes her feet, smears her forehead with red powder and
gives her a present of a rupee and some sweetmeats. All the party
then eat together. This is followed by a visit of the girl's father
to the boy's house where a similar ceremony is enacted and the boy
is presented with a cocoanut, a _pagri_ and cloth, and a silver
or gold ring. Again the boy's relatives go to the girl's house
and give her more valuable presents of jewellery and clothing. A
Brahman is afterwards consulted to fix the date of the marriage,
but the poorer Kunbis dispense with his services as he charges two
or three rupees. Prior to the ceremony the bodies of the bride and
bridegroom are well massaged with vegetable oil and turmeric in their
respective houses, partly with a view to enhance their beauty and also
perhaps to protect them during the trying period of the ceremony when
maleficent spirits are particularly on the alert. The marriage-shed is
made of eleven poles festooned with leaves, and inside it are placed
two posts of the _saleh_ (_Boswellia serrata_) or _umar_ (_Ficus
glomerata_) tree, one longer than the other, to represent the bride
and bridegroom. Two jars filled with water are set near the posts,
and a small earthen platform called _baola_ is made. The bridegroom
wears a yellow or white dress, and has a triangular frame of bamboo
covered with tinsel over his forehead, which is known as _basing_
and is a substitute for the _maur_ or marriage-crown of the Hindustani
castes. Over his shoulder he carries a pickaxe as the representative
implement of husbandry with one or two wheaten cakes tied to it. This
is placed on the top of the marriage-shed and at the end of the five
days' ceremonies the members of the families eat the dried cakes
with milk, no outsider being allowed to participate. The _barat_
or wedding procession sets out for the bride's village, the women
of the bridegroom's family accompanying it except among the Tirole
Kunbis, who forbid the practice in order to demonstrate their higher
social position. It is received on the border of the girl's village
by her father and his friends and relatives, and conducted to the
_janwasa_ or temporary lodging prepared for it, with the exception
of the bridegroom, who is left alone before the shrine of Maroti or
Hanuman. The bridegroom's father goes to the marriage-shed where he
washes the bride's feet and gives her another present of clothes,
and her relatives then proceed to Maroti's temple where they worship
and make offerings, and return bringing the bridegroom with them. As
he arrives at the marriage pavilion he touches it with a stick, on
which the bride's brother who is seated above the shed pours down
some water and is given a present of money by the bridegroom. The
bridegroom's feet are then washed by his father-in-law and he is
given a yellow cloth which he wears. The couple are made to stand on
two wooden planks opposite each other with a curtain between them,
the bridegroom facing east and the bride west, holding some Akshata
or rice covered with saffron in their hands. As the sun sets the
officiating Brahman gets on to the roof of the house and repeats the
marriage texts from there. At his signal the couple throw the rice over
each other, the curtain between them is withdrawn, and they change
their seats. The assembled party applaud and the marriage proper is
over. The Brahman marks their foreheads with rice and turmeric and
presses them together. He then seats them on the earthen platform
or _baola_, and ties their clothes together, this being known as the
Brahma Ganthi or Brahman's knot. The wedding usually takes place on the
day after the arrival of the marriage procession and another two days
are consumed in feasting and worshipping the deities. When the bride
and bridegroom return home after the wedding one of the party waves a
pot of water round their heads and throws it away at a little distance
on the ground, and after this some grain in the same manner. This is
a provision of food and drink to any evil spirits who may be hovering
round the couple, so that they may stop to consume it and refrain
from entering the house. The expenses of the bride's family may vary
from Rs. 60 to Rs. 100 and those of the bridegroom's from Rs. 160 to
Rs. 600. A wedding carried out on a lavish scale by a well-to-do man
is known as Lal Biah or a red marriage, but when the parties are poor
the expenses are curtailed and it is then called Safed Biah or a white
marriage. In this case the bridegroom's mother does not accompany the
wedding procession and the proceedings last only two days. The bride
goes back with the wedding procession for a few days to her husband's
house and then returns home. When she arrives at maturity her parents
give a feast to the caste and send her to her husband's house, this
occasion being known as Bolvan (the calling). The Karwa Kunbis of
Nimar have a peculiar rule for the celebration of marriages. They
have a _guru_ or priest in Gujarat who sends them a notice once in
every ten or twelve years, and in this year only marriages can be
performed. It is called _Singhast ki sal_ and is the year in which the
planet Guru (Jupiter) comes into conjunction with the constellation
Sinh (Leo). But the Karwas themselves think that there is a large
temple in Gujarat with a locked door to which there is no key. But
once in ten or twelve years the door unlocks of itself, and in that
year their marriages are celebrated. A certain day is fixed and all
the weddings are held on it together. On this occasion children from
infants in arms to ten or twelve years are married, and if a match
cannot be arranged for them they will have to wait another ten or
twelve years. A girl child who is born on the day fixed for weddings
may, however, be married twelve days afterwards, the twelfth night
being called Mando Rat, and on this occasion any other weddings which
may have been unavoidably postponed owing to a death or illness in
the families may also be completed. The rule affords a loophole of
escape for the victims of any such _contretemps_ and also insures
that every girl shall be married before she is fully twelve years
old. Rather than not marry their daughter in the _Singhast ki sal_
before she is twelve the parents will accept any bridegroom, even
though he be very poor or younger than the bride. This is the same year
in which the celebration of marriages is forbidden among the Hindus
generally. The other Kunbis have the general Hindu rule that weddings
are forbidden during the four months from the 11th Asarh Sudi (June)
to the 11th Kartik Sudi (October). This is the period of the rains,
when the crops are growing and the gods are said to go to sleep, and
it is observed more or less as a time of abstinence and fasting. The
Hindus should properly abstain from eating sugarcane, brinjals,
onions, garlic and other vegetables for the whole four months. On
the 12th of Kartik the marriage of Tulsi or the basil plant with the
Saligram or ammonite representing Vishnu is performed and all these
vegetables are offered to her and afterwards generally consumed. Two
days afterwards, beginning from the 14th of Kartik, comes the Diwali
festival. In Betul the bridal couple are seated in the centre of a
square made of four plough yokes, while a leaf of the pipal tree and
a piece of turmeric are tied by a string round both their wrists. The
untying of the string by the local Brahman constitutes the essential
and binding portion of the marriage. Among the Lonhare subcaste a
curious ceremony is performed after the wedding. A swing is made, and
a round pestle, which is supposed to represent a child, is placed on
it and swung to and fro. It is then taken off and placed in the lap
of the bride, and the effect of performing this symbolical ceremony
is supposed to be that she will soon become a mother.