Girls are not usually married until they are above ten years old,
or nearly adult as age goes in India; but there is no rule on
the subject. Many girls reach twenty without entering wedlock. If
the parents are too poor to pay for their daughter's marriage the
neighbours will subscribe. In Bastar, however, the Uriya custom
prevails, and an unmarried girl in whom the signs of puberty appear
is put out of caste. In such a case her father marries her to a
mahua tree. The strictness of the rule on this subject among the
Uriyas is probably due to the strength of Brahmanical influence,
the priestly caste possessing more power and property in Sambalpur
and Orissa than in almost any part of India. If a death occurs in the
family of the bridegroom just before the date fixed for the wedding,
and the ceremonies of purification cannot be completed prior to it,
the bride is formally wedded to an achar [143] or mahua tree; [144]
the marriage crown is tied on to the tree, and the bride walks round
it seven times. After the bridegroom's purification the couple are
taken to the same tree, and here the forehead of the bridegroom is
marked with turmeric paste and rice. The couple sit one on each side
of the tree, and the Tikawan ceremony or presentation of gifts by the
relatives and friends is performed, and the marriage is considered to
be complete. If an unmarried girl goes wrong with an outsider of low
caste she is expelled from the community; but if with a member of a
caste from whom a Halba can take water she may be readmitted to caste,
provided she has not eaten food cooked in an earthen pot from the hands
of her seducer; but not if she has done so. If there be a child of
the seducer she must wait until it be weaned and either taken by the
putative father or given away to a Chamar or Gond. The girl can then
be given in marriage to any Halba as a widow. Women of other castes
married by Halbas are admitted into the community. This happens most
frequently in the case of women of the Rawat (herdsman) caste.