Matrimony was a matter of arrangement between the parents; a Punchayut deciding the amount of the dower to be given by the father of the bridegroom to the bride's father. The marriage ceremony consisted in a libation of spirits to Bhugwan, the Supreme Being, and a public declaration that the boy and girl were henceforth man and wife; the whole concluding with a feast. If a man happened to be touched by the petticoat of his mother-in-law, or daughter-in-law, he lost caste, and therefore took care never to go near them. The same result was the consequence of his being struck by his wife's petticoat in the course of connubial strife. By thus losing caste he was incapacitated from joining his tribe in worship, or in funeral rites, though he was still allowed to eat and drink with them. However, a handsome entertainment to his brother robbers and a humble offering to the gods removed all impurities, social and religious. The Bolarum Dacoitee committed in 1837 is such an excellent illustration of the system adopted by the Sanseeas that no apology need be offered for the length of the narrative, as given to Captain Malcolm ten years afterwards by one of the Dacoits actually engaged in it. "From this place (Sadaseopath) I and four others came on to Hyderabad, where we looked about us for five days, but finding nothing likely to suit our purpose, we went to Bolarum, and took up our quarters at a buneeya's (tradesman's) shop in the village of Alwal, close to the cantonments. In the cantonments we soon discovered a respectable looking shop, which appeared well suited for a Dacoitee. Early one morning I took fifty shuhr-chelnee rupees with me and went to the shop, where I found the owner transacting business. I asked him to exchange the shuhr-chelnee for bagh-chelnee rupees, and when I had agreed to give him one pice discount on each rupee, he went and unlocked one of two large-sized boxes, which I saw in an inner room, and out of which he took the money I required. I also noticed some silver horse-furniture hanging upon a peg on the wall, and in a niche a dagger and a pair of pistols." "Having thus obtained all the information I required as to the exact spot where the property was likely to be found, I next examined the position of the different guards likely to interrupt us in the act of breaking into the house. I found that a guard of eighteen men was stationed at the chowrie (police station) some distance off, and that a sentry was posted at night at a place where four streets met, close to the shop I had reconnoitred. From the latter I feared no opposition, as he could easily be overpowered, and we calculated upon breaking into the house before the chowrie-guard could turn out and come to the rescue of the banker."