om Bhopal, one may see by the side of the road, upon a
spur of the hill, a singular pillar of sandstone rising in two
spires, one turning above and rising over the other, to the height of
from twenty to thirty feet. On a spur of a hill half a mile distant
is another sandstone pillar not quite so high. The tradition is that
the smaller pillar was the affianced bride of the taller one, who was
a youth of a family of great eminence in these parts. Coming with his
uncle to pay his first visit to his bride in the procession they call
the 'barat', he grew more and more impatient as he approached nearer
and nearer, and she shared the feeling. At last, unable to restrain
himself, he jumped upon his uncle's shoulder, and looked with all his
might towards the spot where his bride was said to be seated.
Unhappily she felt no less impatient than he did, and raised 'the
fringed curtains of her eye', as he raised his, [and] they saw each
other at the same moment. In that moment the bride, bridegroom, and
uncle were all converted into stone pillars; and there they stand to
this day a monument, in the estimation of the people, to warn men and
womankind against too strong an inclination to indulge curiosity. It
is a singular fact that in one of the most extensive tribes of the
Gond population of Central India, to which this couple is said to
have belonged, the bride always goes to the bridegroom in the
procession of the 'barat', to prevent a recurrence of this calamity.
It is the bridegroom who goes to the bride among every other class of
the people of India, as well Muhammadans as Hindoos. Whether the
usage grew out of the tradition, or the tradition out of the usage,
is a question that will admit of much being said on both sides. I can
only vouch for the existence of both. I have seen the pillars, heard
the tradition from the people, and ascertained the usage; as in the
case of that of the Sagar lake.

The Mahadeo sandstone hills, which in the Satpura range overlook the
Nerbudda to the south, rise to between four and five thousand feet
above the level of the sea;[4] and in one of the highest parts a fair
was formerly, and is, perhaps, still held[5] for the enjoyment of
those who assemble to witness the self devotion of a few young men,
who offer themselves as a sacrifice to fulfil the vows of their
mothers. When a woman is without children she makes votive offerings
to all the gods, who can, she thinks, assist her, and promises of
st