cloth and some bangles. They are
received by the widow's guardian, and they sit in her house smoking and
chewing tobacco while some woman friend retires with her and invests
her with the new cloth and bangles. She comes out and the new husband
and wife bow to all the Dhanwars, who are subsequently regaled with
liquor and goats' flesh, and the marriage is completed. Polygamy is
permitted but is not common. A husband may divorce his wife for failing
to bear him issue, for being ugly, thievish, shrewish or a witch, or
for an intrigue with another man. If a married woman commits adultery
with another man of the tribe they are pardoned with the exaction
of one feast. If her paramour is a Gond, Rawat, Binjhwar or Kawar,
he is allowed to become a Dhanwar and marry her on giving several
feasts, the exact number being fixed by the village Baiga or priest
in a _panchayat_ or committee. With these exceptions a married woman
having an intrigue with a man of another caste is finally expelled. A
wife who desires to divorce her husband without his agreement is also
turned out of the caste like a common woman.

7. Childbirth.

After the birth of a child the mother receives no food for the first
and second, and fourth and fifth days, while on the third she is given
only a warm decoction to drink. On the sixth day the men of the house
are shaved and their impurity ceases. But the mother cooks no food
for two months after bearing a female child and for three months
if it is a male. The period has thus been somewhat reduced from the
traditional one of five and a half months, [533] but it must still
be highly inconvenient. At the expiration of the time of impurity
the earthen pots are changed and the mother prepares a meal for the
whole household. During her monthly period of impurity a woman cooks
no food for six days. On the seventh day she bathes and cleans her
hair with clay, and is then again permitted to touch the drinking
water and cook food.

8. Disposal of the dead.

The tribe bury the dead. The corpse is wrapped in an old cloth and
carried to the grave on a cot turned upside down. On arrival there
it is washed with turmeric and water and wrapped in a new cloth. The
bearers carry the corpse seven times round the open grave, saying,
'This is your last marriage,' that is, with the earth. The male
relatives and friends fill in the grave with earth, working with
their hands only and keep their backs turned to the grav