Matches are usually arranged on the initiative of the boy's father
through a mutual friend who resides in the girl's village, and is
known as the Mahalia or matchmaker. When the contract is concluded
the boy's father sends a present of fixed quantities of grain to the
girl, which are in the nature of a bride-price, and subsequently on
an auspicious day selected by the family priest he and his friends
proceed to the girl's village. The girl meets them, standing at
the entrance of the principal house, dressed in the new clothes
sent on behalf of the bridegroom, and holding out her cloth for the
reception of presents. The boy's father goes up to her and smooths
her hair with his hand, chucks her under the chin with his right
hand, and makes a noise with his lips as if he were kissing her. He
then touches her feet, places a rupee on the skirt of her cloth, and
retires. The other members of his party follow his example, giving
small presents of copper, and afterwards the women of the girl's party
treat the bridegroom in the same manner, but they actually kiss him
(chumna). Betrothals can be held only in the five months from Magh
(January) to Jeth (May), while marriages may be celebrated during
the eight dry months. The auspicious date is selected by the Joshi
or caste-priest, who is chosen by the community for his personal
qualities. If the names of the couple do not point to an auspicious
union the bridegroom's name may be changed either temporarily or
permanently. The Joshi takes two pieces of cloth, which should be
torn from the scarf of the boy's father, and ties up in each of them
some rice, areca nuts, turmeric and dub grass (Cynodon dactylon). One
of these is marked with red lead, and is intended for the bride,
and the other, which is left plain, is for the bridegroom. At the
wedding some of this rice with pulse is placed with a twig of mahua
in a hole in the marriage-shed and addressed: 'You are the goddess
Lachhmi; you have come to assist in the marriage.'
The Halbas, like the other lower castes of Chhattisgarh, have two
forms of wedding, known as the 'Small' and 'Large,' the former being
held at the bridegroom's house with curtailed ceremonies, and being
much cheaper than the latter or Hindu marriage proper, which is held
at the bride's house. The 'small' wedding is more popular among the
Halbas, and for this the bride, accompanied by some of her girl and
boy friends, arrives at the bridegroom's village in the evening,
her parents following her only on the third day. On entering the
lands of the village her party begin singing obscene songs filled
with abuse of the bridegroom's parents and relatives. Nobody goes
to receive or welcome them, and on reaching the bridegroom's house
they enter it without ceremony and sit down in the room where the
family gods are kept. All this time they continue singing, and the
musicians keep up a deafening din in accompaniment. Subsequently the
bride's party are shown to their lodging, known as the Dulhi-kuria or
bride's apartments, and here the bridegroom's father visits her and
washes her big toes first with milk and then with water. The practice
of washing the feet of guests, which strikes strangely on our minds
when we meet it in Scripture, was obviously a welcome attention when
travellers went bare-footed, or at most wore sandals, and arrived at
their journey's end with the feet soiled and bruised by the rigours
of the way. Another of the bridegroom's friends pretends to act as
a barber, and shaves all the bride's men friends with a piece of
straw as if it were a razor. For the marriage ceremony proper the
bride and bridegroom stand facing each other by the marriage hut
with a sheet held between them; the Joshi or caste-priest takes two
lamps and mingles their flames, and the cloth between the couple
being pulled down the bridegroom drags the bride over to him. If
the wedding is held on a Sunday, Tuesday or Saturday the bridegroom
stands facing the east, and if on a Monday, Thursday or Friday, to
the north. After this the cloths of the couple are tied together, or
the end of the bridegroom's scarf is tucked in the bride's waistcloth,
and they go round the marriage-post seven times, the bride following
the bridegroom throughout. A plough-yoke is then brought and placed
close by the marriage-post and the couple take their seats on it,
the bride sitting on the left of the bridegroom. The bundles of rice
consecrated by the Joshi are given to them and they throw it over each
other. The bridegroom takes some red lead and smears the bride's face
with it, making a line from the end of her nose up across her forehead
and along the parting of her hair. He says her name aloud and covers
her head with her cloth. This signifies that she is a married woman,
as in Chhattisgarh unmarried girls go about with the head bare. After
this the mother and father of the bride come and wash the feet of
the couple with milk and water. This ceremony is known as Dharam
Tika, and after its completion the bride's parents will take food
in the bridegroom's house, which they abstain from doing from the
date of the betrothal up to this washing of the feet. It is on this
account that they do not accompany the bride but only follow her on
the third day, but the reason for the rule is by no means clear. On
the following day more ceremonies are performed, and the friends
of the couple touch their foreheads with rice and make presents to
them of cowries. Last of all the bride's parents come and give them
cattle and other articles according to their means. These gifts are
known as Tikawan and remain the separate property of the bride which
she can dispose of as she pleases. The ceremonies usually extend
over four days, the wedding itself taking place on the third. The
bride's party then go home, leaving her with her husband, and after a
week or so they return and take the couple to the bride's house for
the ceremony known as Pinar Dhawai or getting their yellow wedding
clothes washed. The bridegroom stays here two or three weeks, and
during this time he must work at building or repairing the walls of
his father-in-law's house. The custom of serving for a wife still
obtains among the Halbas, and the above rule may perhaps indicate
that it was once more general. At the end of the bridegroom's visit
his father-in-law gives him a new cloth and pair of shoes and sends
him back to his parents' house with his wife. The expenses of the
wedding average about fifty rupees for the bridegroom's family and
from five to thirty rupees for the bride's family.