A man must not marry in his own sept, nor in one which worships the
same number of gods, in localities where the classification of septs
according to the number of gods worshipped obtains. Intermarriage
between septs which are bhaiband or brothers to each other is also
prohibited. The marriage of first cousins is considered especially
suitable. Formerly, perhaps, the match between a brother's daughter
and sister's son was most common; this is held to be a survival of the
matriarchate, when a man's sister's son was his heir. But the reason
has now been generally forgotten, and the union of a brother's son
to a sister's daughter has also become customary, while, as girls
are scarce and have to be paid for, it is the boy's father who puts
forward his claim. Thus in Mandla and Bastar a man thinks he has a
right to his sister's daughter for his son on the ground that his
family has given a girl to her husband's family, and therefore they
should give one back. This match is known as Dudh lautana or bringing
back the milk; and if the sister's daughter marries any one else
her maternal uncle sometimes claims what is known as 'milk money,'
which may be a sum of Rs. 5, in compensation for the loss of the
girl as a wife for his son. This custom has perhaps developed out of
the former match in changed conditions of society, when the original
relation between a brother and his sister's son has been forgotten
and girls have become valuable. But it is said that the dudh or milk
money is also payable if a brother refuses to give his daughter to
his sister's son. In Mandla a man claims his sister's daughter for
his son and sometimes even the daughter of a cousin, and considers
that he has a legitimate grievance if the girl is married to somebody
else. Frequently, if he has reason to apprehend this, he invites the
girl to his house for some ceremony or festival, and there marries
her to his son without the consent of her parents. As this usually
constitutes the offence of kidnapping under the Penal Code, a crop of
criminal cases results, but the procedure of arrest without warrant
and the severe punishment imposed by the Code are somewhat unsuitable
for a case of this kind, which, according to Gond ideas, is rather
in the nature of a civil wrong, and a sufficient penalty would often
be the payment of an adequate compensation or bride-price for the
girl. The children of two sisters cannot, it is said, be married,
and a man cannot marry his wife's elder sister, any aunt or niece,
nor his mother-in-law or her sister. But marriage is not prohibited
between grandparents and grandchildren. If an old man marries a young
wife and dies, his grandson will marry her if she is of proper age. In
this there would be no blood-relationship, but it is doubtful whether
even the existence of such relationship would prevent the match. It
is said that even among Hindu castes the grandfather will flirt with
his granddaughter, and call her his wife in jest, and the grandmother
with her grandson. In Bastar a man can marry his daughter's daughter
or maternal grandfather's or grandmother's sister. He could not marry
his son's daughter or paternal grandfather's sister, because they
belong to the same sept as himself.