d into her husband's clan on her marriage
by her blood being mixed with that of her husband. [199] Or it may be
simply symbolical of the union of the families. In some localities
after the wedding the bride and bridegroom are made to stand on two
bullocks, which are driven forward, and it is believed that whichever
of them falls off first will be the first to die.

8. Widow remarriage.

Owing to the scarcity of women in the caste a widow is seldom allowed
to go out of the family, and when her husband dies she is taken either
by his elder or younger brother; this is in opposition to the usual
Hindu practice, which forbids the marriage of a woman to her deceased
husband's elder brother, on the ground that as successor to the
headship of the joint family he stands to her, at least potentially,
in the light of a father. If the widow prefers another man and runs
away to him, the first husband's relatives claim compensation, and
threaten, in the event of its being refused, to abduct a girl from
this man's family in exchange for the widow. But no case of abduction
has occurred in recent years. In Berar the compensation claimed in
the case of a woman marrying out of the family amounts to Rs. 75,
with Rs. 5 for the Naik or headman of the family. Should the widow
elope without her brother-in-law's consent, he chooses ten or twelve
of his friends to go and sit _dharna_ (starving themselves) before
the hut of the man who has taken her. He is then bound to supply
these men with food and liquor until he has paid the customary sum,
when he may marry the widow. [200] In the event of the second husband
being too poor to pay monetary compensation, he gives a goat, which
is cut into eighteen pieces and distributed to the community. [201]

9. Birth and death.

After the birth of a child the mother is unclean for five days, and
lives apart in a separate hut, which is run up for her use in the
_kuri_ or hamlet. On the sixth day she washes the feet of all the
children in the _kuri_, feeds them and then returns to her husband's
hut. When a child is born in a moving _tanda_ or camp, the same
rule is observed, and for five days the mother walks alone after the
camp during the daily march. The caste bury the bodies of unmarried
persons and those dying of smallpox and burn the others. Their rites
of mourning are not strict, and are observed only for three days. The
Banjaras have a saying: "Death in a foreign land is to be preferred