Meanwhile the guests sit round drinking _handias_ or earthen pots full
of rice-beer. The bride and bridegroom come out and retire a second
time and are called out for the following rite. A vessel of beer
is brought and the bride carries a cupful of it to the bridegroom's
brother, but instead of giving it into his hand she deposits it on
the ground in front of him. This is to seal a kind of tacit agreement
that from that time the bridegroom's brother will not touch his
sister-in-law, and was probably instituted to mark the abolition of
the former system of fraternal polyandry, customs of an analogous
nature being found among the Khonds and Korkus. "Then," Father Dehon
continues, "comes the last ceremony, which is called _khiritengna
handia_ or the _handia_ of the story, and is considered by the Oraons
to be the true form of marriage which has been handed down to them by
their forefathers. The boy and girl sit together before the people,
and one of the elder men present rises and addressing the boy says:
'If your wife goes to fetch _sag_ and falls from a tree and breaks her
leg, do not say that she is disfigured or crippled. You will have to
keep and feed her.' Then turning to the girl: 'When your husband goes
hunting, if his arm or leg is broken, do not say, "He is a cripple,
I won't live with him." Do not say that, for you have to remain with
him. If you prepare meat, give two shares to him and keep only one for
yourself. If you prepare vegetables, give him two parts and keep only
one part for yourself. If he gets sick and cannot go out, do not say
that he is dirty, but clean his mat and wash him.' A feast follows,
and at night the girl is brought to the boy by her mother, who says
to him, 'Now this my child is yours; I do not give her for a few days
but for ever; take care of her and love her well.' A companion of the
bridegroom's then seizes the girl in his arms and carries her inside
the house."