es
as slaves in order to obtain subsistence, and a chiefs household would
thus contain a large number of them. They were still adorned in Mewar,
Colonel Tod states, like the Saxon slaves of old, with a silver ring
round the left ankle instead of the neck. They were well treated,
and were often among the best of the military retainers; they took
rank among themselves according to the quality of the mothers, and
often held confidential places about the ruler's person. A former
chief of Deogarh would appear at court with three hundred _golas_ or
slaves on horseback in his train, men whose lives were his own. [472]
These special customs have now generally been abandoned by the Rajputs
of the Central Provinces, and their weddings conform to the usual
Hindu type as described in the article on Kurmi. The remarriage of
widows is now recognised in the southern Districts, though not in the
north; but even here widows frequently do marry and their offspring
are received into the caste, though with a lower status than those
who do not permit this custom. Among the Baghels a full Rajput will
allow a relative born of a remarried widow to cook his food for him,
but not to add the salt nor to eat it with him. Those who permit
the second marriage of widows also allow a divorced woman to remain
in the caste and to marry again. But among proper Rajputs, as with
Brahmans, a wife who goes wrong is simply put away and expelled from
the society. Polygamy is permitted and was formerly common among
the chiefs. Each wife was maintained in a separate suite of rooms,
and the chief dined and spent the evening alternately with each of
them in her own quarters. The lady with her attendants would prepare
dinner for him and wait upon him while he ate it, waving the punkah or
fan behind him and entertaining him with her remarks, which, according
to report, frequently constituted a pretty severe curtain lecture.

6. Funeral rites

The dead are burnt, except infants, whose bodies are buried. Mourning
is observed for thirteen days for a man, nine days for a woman,
and three days for a child. The _shraddh_ ceremony or offering of
sacrificial cakes to the spirit is performed either during the usual
period in the month of Kunwar (September), or on the anniversary day
of the death. It was formerly held that if a Kshatriya died on the
battlefield it was unnecessary to perform his funeral rites because
his spirit went straight to heaven, and thus the end