At a Gujar wedding four plough-yokes are laid out to form a square
under the marriage booth, with a copper pot full of water in the
centre. At the auspicious moment the bride's hand is placed on that
of the bridegroom, and the two walk seven times round the pot, the
bridegroom leading for the first four rounds and the bride for the
last three. Widows are allowed to remarry, and, as girls are rather
scarce in the caste, a large price is often paid for the widow to
her father or guardian, though this is not willingly admitted. As
much as Rs. 3000 is recorded to have been paid. A widow marriage is
known as Natra or Pat. A woman is forbidden to marry any relative of
her first husband. When the marriage of a widow is to take place a
fee of Rs. 1-4 must be paid to the village proprietor to obtain his
consent. The Gujars of the Bulandshahr District of the United Provinces
furnish, Mr. Crooke says, [127] perhaps the only well-established
instance of polyandry among the Hindus of the plains. Owing to the
scarcity of women in the caste it was customary for the wife of one
brother, usually the eldest, to be occasionally at the disposal of
other unmarried brothers living in the house. The custom arose owing
to the lack of women caused by the prevalence of female infanticide,
and now that this has been stopped it is rapidly dying out, while no
trace of it is believed to exist in the Central Provinces.