. The marriage ceremony resembles that
of the low Telugu castes. The couple are seated on a plough-yoke,
and coloured rice is thrown on to their heads, and the bridegroom
ties the _mangalya_ or bead necklace, which is the sign of marriage,
round the neck of the bride. If a girl is deformed, or has some other
drawback which prevents her from being sought in marriage, she is
given away with her sister to a first cousin [199] or some other near
relative, the two sisters being married to him together. A widow may
marry any man of the tribe except her first husband's brothers. If
a man takes a widow to his house without marrying her he is fined
three rupees, while for adultery with a married woman the penalty is
twenty rupees. A divorce can always be obtained, but if the husband
demands it he is mulcted of twenty rupees by the caste committee,
while a wife who seeks a divorce must pay ten rupees. The Mannewars
make an offering of a fowl and some liquor to the ploughshare on the
festival of Ganesh Chaturthi. After the picking of the flowers of
the mahua [200] they worship that tree, offering to it some of the
liquor distilled from the new flowers, with a fowl and a goat. This
is known as the Burri festival. At the Holi feast the Mannewars make
two human figures to represent Kami and Rati, or the god of love and
his wife. The male figure is then thrown on to the Holi fire with a
live chicken or an egg. This may be a reminiscence of a former human
sacrifice, which was a common custom in many parts of the world at the
spring festival. The caste usually bury the dead, but are beginning
to adopt cremation. They do not employ Brahmans for their ceremonies
and eat all kinds of food, including the flesh of pigs, fowls and
crocodiles, but in view of their having nominally adopted Hinduism,
they abstain from beef.

Maratha

List of Paragraphs

1. _Numerical statistics_.
2. _Double meaning of the term Maratha_.
3. _Origin and position of the caste_.
4. _Exogamous clans_.
5. _Other subdivisions_.
6. _Social customs_.
7. _Religion_.
8. _Present position of the caste_.
9. _Nature of the Maratha insurrection_.
10. _Maratha women in past times_.
11. _The Maratha horseman_.
12. _Cavalry in the field_.
13. _Military administration_.
14. _Sitting Dharna_.
15. _The infantry_.
16. _Character of the Maratha armies_.

1. Numerical statistics

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