The wedding expenses come to about seventy rupees on the bridegroom's
part in an ordinary marriage, while the bride's family spend the
amount of the bride-price and a few rupees more. If the parties are
poor the ceremony can be curtailed so far as to provide food for only
five guests. It is permissible for two families to effect an exchange
of girls in lieu of payment of the bride-price, this practice being
known as Gunrawat. Or a prospective bridegroom may give his services
for three or four years instead of a price. The system of serving
for a wife is known as Gharjian, and is generally resorted to by
widows having daughters. A girl going wrong with a Kawar or with a
Kaurai Rawat before marriage may be pardoned with the exaction of a
feast from her parents. For a liaison with any other outsider she
is finally expelled, and the exception of the Kaurai Rawats shows
that they are recognised as in reality Kawars. Widow-remarriage is
permitted except in the Tanwar subcaste. New bangles and clothes
are given to the widow, and the pair then stand under the eaves of
the house; the bridegroom touches the woman's ear or puts a rolled
mango-leaf into it, and she becomes his wife. If a widower marries a
girl for his third wife it is considered unlucky for her. An earthen
image of a woman is therefore made, and he goes through the marriage
ceremony with it; he then throws the image to the ground so that it is
broken, when it is considered to be dead and its funeral ceremony is
performed. After this the widower may marry the girl, who becomes his
fourth wife. Such cases are naturally very rare. If a widow marries
her deceased husband's younger brother, which is considered the most
suitable match, the children by her first husband rank equally with
those of the second. If she marries outside the family her children
and property remain with her first husband's relatives.
Dalton [419] records that the Kawars of Sarguja had adopted the
practice of sati: "I found that the Kawars of Sarguja encouraged
widows to become Satis and greatly venerated those who did so. Sati
shrines are not uncommon in the Tributary Mahals. Between Partabpur
and Jhilmili in Sarguja I encamped in a grove sacred to a Kauraini
Sati. Several generations have elapsed since the self-sacrifice
that led to her canonisation, but she is now the principal object
of worship in the village and neighbourhood, and I was informed that
every year a fowl was sacrificed to her, and every third year a black
goat. The Hindus with me were intensely amused at the idea of offering
fowls to a Sati!" Polygamy is permitted, but is not common. Members
of the Tanwar subtribe, when they have occasion to do so, will take
the daughters of Kawars of other groups for wives, though they will
not give their daughters to them. Such marriages are generally made
clandestinely, and it has become doubtful as to whether some families
are true Tanwars. The zamindars have therefore introduced a rule that
no family can be recognised as a Tanwar for purposes of marriage unless
it has a certificate to that effect signed by the zamindar. Some of
the zamindars charge considerable sums for these certificates, and all
cannot afford them; but in that case they are usually unable to get
husbands for their daughters, who remain unwed. Divorce is permitted
for serious disagreement or bad conduct on the part of the wife.