s. The divisions of the septs and
subsepts are very confused, and seem to indicate that at different
times various foreign elements have been received into the community,
including Rajputs of many different clans. According to rule, a man
should not take a wife whose sept or subsept are the same as his own,
but this is not adhered to; and in some cases the Daharias, on account
of the paucity of their numbers and the difficulty of arranging
matches, have been driven to permit the marriage of first cousins,
which among proper Rajputs is forbidden. They also practise hypergamy,
as members of the Mainpuri Chauhan, Hiyas, Bisen, Surkhi and Bais septs
or subsepts will take girls in marriage from families of other septs,
but will not give their daughters to them. This practice leads to
polygamy among the five higher septs, whose daughters are all married
in their own circle, while in addition they receive girls from the
other groups. Members of these latter also consider it an honour to
marry a daughter into one of the higher septs, and are willing to pay
a considerable price for such a distinction. It seems probable that the
small Daraiha caste of Bilaspur are an inferior branch of the Daharias.

3. Social customs.

The Daharias, in theory at any rate, observe the same rules in
regard to their women as Brahmans and Rajputs. Neither divorce nor
the marriage of widows is permitted, and a woman who goes wrong is
finally expelled from the caste. Their social customs resemble those
of the higher Hindustani castes. When the bridegroom starts for the
wedding he is dressed in a long white gown reaching to the ankles,
with new shoes, and he takes with him a dagger; this serves the
double purpose of warding off evil spirits, always prone to attack
the bridal party, and also of being a substitute for the bridegroom
himself, as in case he should for some unforeseen reason be rendered
unable to appear at the ceremony, the bride could be married to the
dagger as his representative. It may also be mentioned that, before
the bridegroom starts for the wedding, after he has been rubbed with
oil and turmeric for five days he is seated on a wooden plank over
a hole dug in the courtyard and bathed. He then changes his clothes,
and the women bring twenty-one small _chukias_ or cups full of water
and empty them over him. His head is then covered with a piece of
new cloth, and a thread wound round it seven times by a Brahman. The
thread is a