rriages the greater part of the expense falls on the
girl's father, who has to give three feasts as against two provided by
the bridegroom's father. After the wedding the bridegroom's father puts
on women's clothes given by the bride's father and dances before the
family. Rose-coloured water and powder are sprinkled over the guests
and the proceeding is known as _Phag_, because it is considered to have
the same significance as the Holi festival observed in Phagun. This
is usually done on the bank of a river or in some garden outside
the village. At the _gauna_ or going-away ceremony the bride and
bridegroom take their seats on two wooden boards and then change
places. Divorce and the remarriage of widows are permitted. The union
of a widow with her deceased husband's younger brother is considered
a suitable match, but is not compulsory. When a bachelor marries a
widow, he first goes through the proper ceremony either with a stick
or an ear-ring, and is then united to the widow by the simple ritual
employed for widow remarriage. A girl who is seduced by a member of
the caste may be married to him as if she were a widow, but if her
lover is an outsider she is permanently expelled from the caste.

3. Occupation.

The Bharbhunjas occupy a fairly high social position, analogous to
that of the Barais, Kahars and other serving castes, the explanation
being that all Hindus require the grain parched by them; this, as it
is not cooked with water, may be eaten abroad, on a journey or in the
market-place. This is known as _pakki_ food, and even Brahmans will
take it from their hands. But Mr. Crooke notes [275] that the work
they do, and particularly the sweeping up of dry leaves for fuel,
tends to lower them in the popular estimation, and it is a favourite
curse to wish of an enemy that he may some day come to stoke the kiln
of a grain-parcher. Of their occupation Sir H. Risley states that
"Throughout the caste the actual work of parching grain is usually
left to the women. The process is a simple one. A clay oven is built,
somewhat in the shape of a bee-hive, with ten or twelve round holes at
the top. A fire is lighted under it and broken earthen pots containing
sand are put on the holes. The grain to be parched is thrown in with
the sand and stirred with a flat piece of wood or a broom until it is
ready. The sand and parched grain are then placed in a sieve, through
which the former escapes. The wages of the parcher are a