Only a very few points from Sir H. Risley's account of the caste need
be recorded here, and for further details the reader may be referred
to his article in the _Tribes and Castes of Bengal_. A bride-price
of Rs. 5 is customary, but it varies according to the means of the
parties. On the wedding day, before the usual procession starts to
escort the bridegroom to the bride's house, he is formally married to
a mango tree, while the bride goes through the same ceremony with a
mahua. At the entrance to the bride's house the bridegroom, riding on
the shoulders of some male relation and bearing on his head a vessel
of water, is received by the bride's brother, equipped in similar
fashion, and the two cavaliers sprinkle one another with water. At
the wedding the bridegroom touches the bride's forehead five times
with vermilion and presents her with an iron armlet. The remarriage
of widows and divorce are permitted. When a man divorces his wife he
gives her a rupee and takes away the iron armlet which was given her
at her wedding. The Mahlis will admit members of any higher caste into
the community. The candidate for admission must pay a small sum to the
caste headman, and give a feast to the Mahlis of the neighbourhood, at
which he must eat a little of the leavings of food left by each guest
on his leaf-plate. After this humiliating rite he could not, of course,
be taken back into his own caste, and is bound to remain a Mahli.