The higher clans of Lodhis in Damoh and Saugor prohibit the remarriage
of widows, but instances of it occur. It is said that a man who marries
a widow is relegated to the Mahalodhi subcaste or the Lahuri Sen, an
illegitimate group, and the Lodhis of his clan no longer acknowledge
his family. But if a girl's husband dies before she has lived with him
she may marry again. The other Lodhis freely permit widow-marriage
and divorce. When a girl first becomes mature she is secluded,
and though she may stay in the house cannot enter the cook-room. At
the end of the period she is dressed in red cloth, and a present of
cocoanuts stripped of their shells, sweetmeats, and a little money,
is placed in her lap, while a few women are invited to a feast. This
rite is also meant to induce fertility, the kernel of the cocoanut
being held to resemble an unborn baby.