of the marriage-shed her
friends considered themselves defeated and the sham fight was at an
end." Among the Maratha Chamars of Betul two earthen pots full of water
are half buried in the ground and worship is paid to them. The bride
and bridegroom then stand together and their relatives take out water
from the pots and pour it on to their heads from above. The idea is
that the pouring of the sacred water on to them will make them grow,
and if the bride is much smaller than the bridegroom more water is
poured on to her in order that she may grow faster. The practice may
symbolise the fertilising influence of rain. Among the Dohar Chamars
of Narsinghpur the bride and bridegroom are seated on a plough-yoke
while the marriage ceremony is performed. Before the wedding the
bride's party take a goat's leg in a basket with other articles to the
_janwasa_ or bridegroom's lodging and present it to his father. The
bride and bridegroom take the goat's leg and beat each other with it
alternately. Another ceremony, known as Pendpuja, consists in placing
pieces of stick with cotton stuck to the ends in an oven and burning
them in the name of the deceased ancestors; but the significance, if
there be any, of this rite is obscure. Some time after the wedding
the bride is taken to her husband's house to live with him, and on
this occasion a simple ceremony known as Chauk or Pathoni is performed.

6. Widow-marriage and divorce.

Widows commonly remarry, and may take for their second husband anybody
they please, except their own relatives and their late husband's
elder brother and ascendant relations. In Chhattisgarh widows are
known either as _barandi_ or _randi_, the _randi_ being a widow
in the ordinary sense of the term and the _barandi_ a girl who has
been married but has not lived with her husband. Such a girl is not
required to break her bangles on her husband's death, and, being more
in demand as a second wife, her father naturally obtains a good price
for her. To marry a woman whose husband is alive is known as _chhandwe
banana_, the term _chhandwe_ implying that the woman has discarded,
or has been discarded by, her husband. The second husband must in
this case repay to the first husband the expenses incurred by him
on his wedding. The marriage ceremony for a widow is of the simplest
character, and consists generally of the presentation to her by her
new husband of those articles which a married woman may use, but which
s