In the Maria country, if a girl is made pregnant by a man of the
caste before marriage, she simply goes to his house and becomes his
wife. This is called Paithu or entering. The man has to spend Rs. 2
or 3 on food for the caste and pay the price for the girl to her
parents. If a girl has grown up and no match has been arranged for
her to which she agrees, her parents will ask her maternal uncle's or
paternal aunt's son to seize her and take her away. These two cousins
have a kind of prescriptive claim to the girl, and apparently it makes
no difference whether the prospective husband is already married or
not. He and his friends lie in wait near her home and carry her off,
and her parents afterwards proceed to his house to console their
daughter and reconcile her to the match. Sometimes when a woman is
about to become what is known as a Paisamundi or kept woman, without
being married, the relations rub her and the man whose mistress she
is with oil and turmeric, put marriage crowns of palm-leaves on their
heads, pour water on them from the top of a post, and make them go
seven times round a mahua branch, so that they may be considered to
be married. When a couple are very poor they may simply go and live
together without any wedding, and perform the ceremony afterwards
when they have means, or they distribute little pieces of bread to
the tribesmen in lieu of the marriage feast.