Girls are married between seven and ten, and after she is twelve
years old a girl cannot go through the proper ceremony, but can
only be wedded by a simple rite used for widows, in which vermilion
is rubbed on her forehead and some grains of rice stuck on it. The
marriage procession, as described by Mr. Rama Prasad Bohidar, is
a gorgeous affair: "The drummers, all drunk, head the procession,
beating their drums to the tune set by the piper. Next in order are
placed dancing-boys between two rows of lights carried on poles adorned
with festoons of paper flowers. Rockets and fireworks have their
proper share in the procession, and last of all comes the bridegroom
in his wedding apparel, mounted on a horse. His person is studded
with various kinds of gold necklaces borrowed for the occasion,
and the fingers of his right hand are covered with rings. Bangles
and chains of silver shine on his wrists and arms. His forehead is
beautifully painted with ground sandalwood divided in the centre
by a streak of vermilion. His head carries a crown of palm-leaves
overlaid with bright paper of various colours. A network of _malti_
flowers hangs loosely from the head over the back and covers a portion
of the loins of the steed. The eyes are painted with collyrium and
the feet with red dye. The lips and teeth are also reddened by the
betel-leaf, which the bridegroom chews in profusion. A silk cloth
does the work of a belt, in which is fixed a dagger on the right
side." Here the red colour which predominates in the bridegroom's
decorations is lucky for the reasons given in the article on Lakhera;
the blacking of the eyes is also considered to keep off evil spirits;
betel-leaf is itself a powerful agent of magic and averter of spirits,
and to the same end the bridegroom carries iron in the shape of the
dagger. The ceremony is of the customary Uriya type. On the seventh
day of the wedding the husband and wife go to the river and bathe,
throwing away the sacred threads worn at the time of marriage, and
also those which have been tied round their wrists. On returning
home the wife piles up seven brass vessels and seven stools one above
the other and the husband kicks them over, this being repeated seven
times. The husband then washes his teeth with water brought from the
river, breaks the vessel containing the water in the bride's house,
and runs away, while the women of her family throw pailfuls of coloured
water over him. On the ninth day the bride comes and smears a mixture
of curds and sugar on the forehead of each member of the bridegroom's
family, probably as a sign of her admission to their clan, and returns
home. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted.