Marriage is adult and pre-nuptial unchastity appears to be tacitly
recognised. Oraon villages have the institution of the Dhumkuria
or Bachelors' dormitory, which Dalton describes as follows: [359]
"In all the older Oraon villages when there is any conservation of
ancient customs, there is a house called the Dhumkuria in which all
the bachelors of the village must sleep under penalty of a fine. The
huts of the Oraons have insufficient accommodation for a family,
so that separate quarters for the young men are a necessity. The
same remark applies to the young unmarried women, and it is a fact
that they do not sleep in the house with their parents. They are
generally frank enough when questioned about their habits, but on
this subject there is always a certain amount of reticence, and I have
seen girls quietly withdraw when it was mooted. I am told that in some
villages a separate building is provided for them like the Dhumkuria,
in which they consort under the guardianship of an elderly duenna,
but I believe the more common practice is to distribute them among the
houses of the widows, and this is what the girls themselves assert, if
they answer at all when the question is asked; but however billeted,
it is well known that they often find their way to the bachelors'
hall, and in some villages actually sleep there. I not long ago saw a
Dhumkuria in a Sarguja village in which the boys and girls all slept
every night." Colonel Dalton considered it uncertain that the practice
led to actual immorality, but the fact can hardly be doubted. Sexual
intercourse before marriage, Sir H. Risley says, is tacitly recognised,
and is so generally practised that in the opinion of the best observers
no Oraon girl is a virgin at the time of her marriage. "To call this
state of things immoral is to apply a modern conception to primitive
habits of life. Within the tribe, indeed, the idea of sexual morality
seems hardly to exist, and the unmarried Oraons are not far removed
from the condition of modified promiscuity which prevails among
many of the Australian tribes. Provided that the exogamous circle
defined by the totem is respected, an unmarried woman may bestow
her favours on whom she will. If, however, she becomes pregnant,
arrangements are made to get her married without delay, and she is
then expected to lead a virtuous life." [360] According to Dalton,
however, _liaisons_ between boys and girls of the same village seldom
end in marriage, as it is considered more respectable to bring home a
bride from a distance. This appears to arise from the primitive rule
of exogamy that marriage should not be allowed between those who have
been brought up together. The young men can choose for themselves,
and at dances, festivals and other social gatherings they freely woo
their sweethearts, giving them flowers for the hair and presents of
grilled field-mice, which the Oraons consider to be the most delicate
of food. Father Dehon, however, states that matches are arranged by
the parents, and the bride and bridegroom have nothing to say in the
matter. Boys are usually married at sixteen and girls at fourteen
or fifteen. The girls thus have only about two years of preliminary
flirtation or Dhumkuria life before they are settled.