Colonel Sleeman records some curious taboos among relations. [610] A
man cannot go into the hut of his mother-in-law or of his son's wife;
for if their petticoat should touch him he would be turned out of his
caste and would not be admitted into it until he had paid a large
sum. "If we quarrel with a woman," said a Sansia, "and she strikes
us with her petticoat we lose our caste; we should be allowed to eat
and drink with our tribe, but not to perform worship with them nor to
assist in burial rites. If a woman piles up a heap of stones and puts
her petticoat upon it and throws filth upon it and says to any other,
'This disgrace fell upon your ancestors for seven generations back,'
both are immediately expelled from our caste, and cannot return to
it until they have paid a large sum of money."