[Runaway marriages.] 26. The next form of marriage is the runaway marriage, which was dignified by the early Hindu lawgivers with the name of Gandharva, “the reciprocal connection of a youth and a damsel, with mutual desire, contracted for the purpose of amorous embraces, and proceeding from sensual inclination.” [90] This prevails largely among the Dravidian tribes of the Central Indian plateau. At the periodical autumn feast the Ghasiya damsel has only to kick the youth, of whom she approves, on the ankle, and this is a signal to her relatives that the sooner the connection is legalised the better. We have the same custom in another form in the well known institution of the Bachelors’ Hall among the Orâons and Bhuiyas. [91] This merges into the Mut'ah marriage, which is legalised among Muhammadans. [Marriage by exchange.] 27. Next comes marriage by exchange, known commonly as adala badala, where two fathers exchange daughters in marriage between their sons. This is the simplest form of marriage by purchase. [92] The present survey has disclosed instances of this among Barhais, Bhuiyas, Dharkârs, Ghasiyas, Kanaujiyas, Meos, Musahars and Tarkihârs. It thus is in a great measure confined to the lower castes, and Mr. Ibbetson remarks [93] that in the East of the Panjâb “exchange of betrothal is thought disgraceful, and, if desired, is effected by a triangular exchange,—A betrothing with B, B with C, and C with A: in the West, on the contrary, among all classes, in the Hills and Submontane Districts, apparently among all but the highest classes, and among the Jâts, almost everywhere, except in the Jumna District, the betrothal by exchange is the commonest form.” [Beena marriage.] 28. The next stage is what has been called by ethnologists Beena marriage, [94] in which the bridegroom goes to the house of the bride and wins her after a period of probation as Jacob wins Rachel. In these Provinces the custom seems to be confined to the Dravidian tribes of the Vindhyan plateau, Bhuiyârs, Cheros, Ghasiyas, Gonds, Kharwârs, Majhwârs, and Parahiyas. Among them it bears the name of gharjanwai, which means “the son-in-law residing in the house of the bride.” [Bride purchase.] 29. Immediately arising out of this is the more common form of bride purchase which prevails among most of the inferior tribes. In many cases, as will be seen by the examples which have been collected, the bride-price is fixed by tribal custom, and it marks a progressive stage in the evolution of marriage, where the purchase of the bride is veiled under the fiction of a contribution given by the relatives of the youth to cover the expenses of the marriage feast, which is, except in the dola or inferior form of marriage, provided by the relatives of the bride. “Let no father,” says Manu, [95] “who knows the law, receive a gratuity, however small, for giving his daughter in marriage: since the man who, through avarice, takes a gratuity for that purpose, is a seller of his offspring.”