A man must not marry in his own clan or that of his mother. A
sister's son may be married to a brother's daughter, but not vice
versa. Girls are commonly married between five and twelve years of age,
and the ceremony resembles that of the Kunbis. The bridegroom goes
to the bride's house riding on horseback and covered with a black
blanket When a girl first becomes mature, usually after marriage,
the Marathas perform the Shantik ceremony. The girl is secluded for
four days, after which she is bathed and puts on new clothes and
dresses her hair and a feast is given to the caste-fellows. Sometimes
the bridegroom comes and is asked whether he has visited his wife
before she became mature, and if he confesses that he has done so a
small fine is imposed on him. Such cases are, however, believed to
be rare. The Marathas proper forbid widow-marriage, but the lower
groups allow it. If a maiden is seduced by one of the caste she may
be married to him as if she were a widow, a fine being imposed on
her family; but if she goes wrong with an outsider she is finally
expelled. Divorce is not ostensibly allowed but may be concluded by
agreement between the parties. A wife who commits adultery is cast off
and expelled from the caste. The caste burn their dead when they can
afford it and perform the _shraddh_ ceremony in the month of _Kunwar_
(September), when oblations are offered to the dead and a feast is
given to the caste-fellows. Sometimes a tomb is erected as a memorial
to the dead, but without his name, and is surmounted usually by an
image of Mahadeo. The caste eat the flesh of clean animals and of
fowls and wild pig, and drink liquor. Their rules about food are
liberal like those of the Rajputs, a too great stringency being no
doubt in both cases incompatible with the exigencies of military
service. They make no difference between food cooked with or without
water, and will accept either from a Brahman, Rajput, Tirole Kunbi,
Lingayat Bania or Phulmali.
The Marathas proper observe the _parda_ system with regard to their
women, and will go to the well and draw water themselves rather than
permit their wives to do so. The women wear ornaments only of gold
or glass and not of silver or any baser metal. They are not permitted
to spin cotton as being an occupation of the lower classes. The women
are tattooed in the centre of the forehead with a device resembling a
trident. The men commonly wear a turban made of many folds of cloth
twisted into a narrow rope and large gold rings with pearls in the
upper part of the ear. Like the Rajputs they often have their hair
long and wear beards and whiskers. They assume the sacred thread and
invest a boy with it when he is seven or eight years old or on his
marriage. Till then they let the hair grow on the front of his head,
and when the thread ceremony is performed they cut this off and let
the _choti_ or scalp-lock grow at the back. In appearance the men
are often tall and well-built and of a light wheat-coloured complexion.