n and between
first and second cousins on the mother's side. But the Chandnahe
Kurmis permit the wedding of a brother's daughter to a sister's
son. Most Kurmis forbid a man to marry his wife's sister during her
lifetime. The Chhattisgarh Kurmis have the practice of exchanging
girls between two families. There is usually no objection to marriage
on account of religious differences within the pale of Hinduism,
but the difficulty of a union between a member of a Vaishnava sect
who abstains from flesh and liquor, and a partner who does not,
is felt and expressed in the following saying:

Vaishnava purush avaishnava nari
Unt beil ki jot bichari,

or 'A Vaishnava husband with a non-Vaishnava wife is like a camel
yoked with a bullock.' Muhammadans and Christians are not retained
in the caste. Girls are usually wedded between nine and eleven, but
well-to-do Kurmis like other agriculturists, sometimes marry their
daughters when only a few months old. The people say that when a
Kurmi gets rich he will do three things: marry his daughters very
young and with great display, build a fine house, and buy the best
bullocks he can afford. The second and third methods of spending his
money are very sensible, whatever may be thought of the first. No
penalty is imposed for allowing a girl to exceed the age of puberty
before marriage. Boys are married between nine and fifteen years,
but the tendency is towards the postponement of the ceremony. The
boy's father goes and asks for a bride and says to the girl's father,
'I have placed my son with you,' that is, given him in adoption;
if the match be acceptable the girl's father replies, 'Yes, I will
give my daughter to collect cowdung for you'; to which the boy's
father responds, 'I will hold her as the apple of my eye.' Then the
girl's father sends the barber and the Brahman to the boy's house,
carrying a rupee and a cocoanut. The boy's relatives return the
visit and perform the '_God bharna_,' or 'Filling the lap of the
girl.' They take some sweetmeats, a rupee and a cocoanut, and place
them in the girl's lap, this being meant to induce fertility. The
ceremony of betrothal succeeds, when the couple are seated together
on a wooden plank and touch the feet of the guests and are blessed
by them. The auspicious date of the wedding is fixed by the Brahman
and intimation is given to the boy's family through the _lagan_
or formal invitation, which is sent on a paper coloured yellow wi