Marriage is adult, and the bride and bridegroom are usually about
the same age; but girls are scarce in the caste, and betrothals are
usually effected at an early age, so that the fathers of boys may
obtain brides for their sons. A contract of betrothal, once made,
cannot be broken without incurring social disgrace, and compensation
in money is also exacted. A small bride-price of three or four rupees
and a piece of cloth is payable to the girl's father. As in the case
of some other Uriya castes the proposal for a marriage is couched in
poetic phraseology, the Turi bridegroom's ambassador announcing his
business with the phrase: 'I hear that a sweet-scented flower has
blossomed in your house and I have come to gather it'; to which the
bride's father, if the match be acceptable, replies: 'You may take
away my flower if you will not throw it away when its sweet scent
has gone.' The girl then appears, and the boy's father gives her
a piece of cloth and throws a little liquor over her feet. He then
takes her on his lap and gives her an anna to buy a ring for herself,
and sometimes kisses her and says, 'You will preserve my lineage.' He
washes the feet of her relatives, and the contract of betrothal
is thus completed, and its violation by either party is a serious
matter. The wedding is performed according to the ritual commonly
practised by the Uriya castes. The binding portion of it consists
in the perambulation of the sacred pole five or seven times. After
each circle the bridegroom takes hold of the bride's toe and makes
her kick away a small heap of rice on which a nut and a pice coin
are placed. After this a cloth is held over the couple and each rubs
vermilion on the other's forehead. At this moment the bride's brother
appears, and gives the bridegroom a blow on the back. This is probably
in token of his wrath at being deprived of his sister. A meal of rice
and fowls is set before the bridegroom, but he feigns displeasure,
and refuses to eat them. The bride's parents then present him with a
pickaxe and a crooked knife, saying that these are the implements of
their trade, and will suffice him for a livelihood. The bridegroom,
however, continues obdurate until they promise him a cow or a bullock,
when he consents to eat. The bride's family usually spend some twenty
or more rupees on her wedding, and the bridegroom's family about fifty
rupees. A widow is expected to marry her Dewar or deceased husband's
younger brother, and if she takes somebody else he must repay to the
Dewar the expenditure incurred by the latter's family on her first
marriage. Divorce is permitted for misconduct on the part of the wife
or for incompatibility of temper.