do this, it is an indelible
disgrace on the bride's party. Before doing so he requires a valuable
present, such as a buffalo.

6. The gauna ceremoney. Fertility rites

When the girl becomes mature the Gauna or going-away ceremony is
performed. In Chhattisgarh before leaving her home the bride goes out
with her sister and worships a _palas_ tree. [97] Her sister waves
a lighted lamp seven times over it, and the bride goes seven times
round it in imitation of the marriage ceremony. At her husband's
house seven pictures of the family gods are drawn on a wall inside
the house and the bride worships these, placing a little sugar and
bread on the mouth of each and bowing before them. She is then seated
before the family god while an old woman brings a stone rolling-pin
[98] wrapped up in a piece of cloth, which is supposed to be a baby,
and the old woman imitates a baby crying. She puts the roller in
the bride's lap saying, 'Take this and give it milk.' The bride is
abashed and throws it aside. The old woman picks it up and shows
it to the assembled women saying, 'The bride has just had a baby,'
amid loud laughter. Then she gives the stone to the bridegroom who
also throws it aside. This ceremony is meant to induce fertility,
and it is supposed that by making believe that the bride has had a
baby she will quickly have one.

7. Widow-marriage and puberty rite

The higher clans of Lodhis in Damoh and Saugor prohibit the remarriage
of widows, but instances of it occur. It is said that a man who marries
a widow is relegated to the Mahalodhi subcaste or the Lahuri Sen, an
illegitimate group, and the Lodhis of his clan no longer acknowledge
his family. But if a girl's husband dies before she has lived with him
she may marry again. The other Lodhis freely permit widow-marriage
and divorce. When a girl first becomes mature she is secluded,
and though she may stay in the house cannot enter the cook-room. At
the end of the period she is dressed in red cloth, and a present of
cocoanuts stripped of their shells, sweetmeats, and a little money,
is placed in her lap, while a few women are invited to a feast. This
rite is also meant to induce fertility, the kernel of the cocoanut
being held to resemble an unborn baby.

8. Mourning impurity

The higher clans consider themselves impure for a period of 12 days
after a birth, and if the birth falls in the Mul asterism or Nakshatra,
for 27 days. After death they observe