to his wrist, and the barber puts the turban and marriage-crown on
his head. The procession then starts, but any barber who meets it on
the way may put a fresh marriage-crown on the bridegroom's head and
receive eight annas or a rupee for it, so that he sometimes arrives
at his destination wearing four or five of them. The usual ceremonies
attend the arrival. At the marriage the couple are blindfolded and
seated in the shed, while the Brahman priest repeats _mantras_ or
verses, and during this time the parents and the parties must continue
placing nuts and pice all over the shed. These are the perquisites
of the Brahman. The hands of the couple are then tied together with
_kusha_ grass (_Eragrostis cynosuroides_), and water is poured over
them. After the ceremony the couple gamble with seven cowries and seven
pieces of turmeric. The boy then presses a cowrie on the ground with
his little finger, and the girl has to take it away, which she easily
does. The girl in her turn holds a cowrie inside her clenched hand,
and the boy has to remove it with his little finger, which he finds
it impossible to do. Thus the boy always loses and has to promise the
girl something, either to give her an ornament or to take her on a
pilgrimage, or to make her the mistress of his house. On the fifth
or last day of the ceremony some curds are placed in a small pot,
and the couple are made to churn them; this is probably symbolical of
the caste's original occupation of tending cattle. The bride goes to
her husband's house for three days, and then returns home. When she
is to be finally brought to her husband's house, his father with some
relatives goes to the parents of the girl and asks for her. It is now
strict etiquette for her father to refuse to send her on the first
occasion, and they usually have to call on him three or four times at
intervals of some days, and selecting the days given by the astrologer
as auspicious. Occasionally they have to go as many as ten times;
but finally, if the girl's father proves very troublesome, they send
an old woman who drags away the girl by force. If the father sends her
away willingly he gives her presents of several basket-loads of grain,
oil, turmeric, cooking-pots, cloth, and if he is well off a cow and
bullocks, the value of the presents amounting to about Rs. 50. The
girl's brother takes her to her husband's house, where a repetition of
the marriage ceremony on a small scale is performed. Twice ag