nship
sometimes found to exist between a man and his sister's children. This
is a survival of the period when a woman's children, under the rule of
female descent, belonged to her own family and her husband or partner
in sexual relations had no proprietary right or authority over them,
the place and authority of a father belonging in such a condition
of society to the mother's brother or brothers. Among the Halbas a
marriage is commonly arranged when practicable between a brother's
daughter and a sister's son. And a man always shows a special regard
and respect for his sister's son, touching the latter's feet as to a
superior, while whenever he desires to make a gift as an offering of
thanks and atonement, or as a meritorious action, the sister's son is
the recipient. At his death he usually leaves a substantial legacy,
such as one or two buffaloes, to his sister's son, the remainder of
the property going to his own family. Similarly among the Kamars the
marriage of a man's children with his sister's children is considered
the most suitable union. If a man's sister is poor, he will arrange
for the weddings of her children. He will never beat his sister's
children however much they may deserve it, and he will not permit his
sister's son or daughter to eat from the dish from which he eats. The
last rule, it is said, also applies to the maternal aunt. The Kunbis,
and other Maratha castes, have a saying: 'At the sister's house
the brother's daughter is a daughter-in-law.' The Gonds call the
wedding of a brother's daughter to a sister's son _Dudh lautana_, or
'bringing back the milk.' The reason why a brother was formerly anxious
to marry his daughter to his sister's son was that the latter would
be his heir under the matriarchal system; but now that inheritance is
through males, and girls are at a premium for marriage, a brother is
usually more anxious to get his sister's daughter for his son, and on
the analogy of the opposite union it is sometimes supposed, as among
the Gonds, that he also has a right to her. Many other instances of
the special relation between a brother and his sister's children are
given by Sir J.G. Frazer in _Totemism and Exogamy_. In some localities
also the Korkus build their villages in two long lines of houses on
each side of the road, and it may be the case that this is a relic
of the period when two or more clans with female descent lived in the
same village, and those belonging to each class who