[Widow marriage.] 5. When a man desires to marry a widow, he provides for her a suit of clothes, a set of glass bangles (chûri) and a pair of toe-rings (bichhua). The council is assembled and the woman is asked if she accepts her suitor. If she agrees, an auspicious day is selected by the advice of a Brâhman, and the new husband dresses her in the clothes and ornament and takes her home. After this he gives a feast to the brotherhood. In this form of marriage, known as karâo or dhareja, there is no procession (bârât), and no walking round the sacred fire (bhanwar). The levirate is enforced unless the younger brother of her late husband is already married, in which case the widow may live with an outsider. If she marries a stranger she loses her right to maintenance from the estate of her first husband, and also the guardianship of his children, unless they are of tender age. There is no trace of the fiction that children of the levir are attributed to his deceased brother. [Birth ceremonies.] 6. When pregnancy is ascertained the caste men are assembled and some gram and wheat boiled with molasses is distributed. Contrary to prevailing Hindu custom the woman is delivered on a bed with her feet turned towards the Ganges. The midwife is usually a sweeper woman, and after delivery her place as nurse is taken by a barber woman. When the child is born molasses is distributed to friends; and women sing songs and play on a brass tray (thâli). On the sixth day (chhathi) they worship Sati, and throw a little cakes and incense into the fire in her honour. On the twelfth day the mother is bathed, and seated in the court-yard inside a sacred square (chauk) made by a Brâhman, with wheat-flour. He then names the child, and purifies the house by sprinkling water all about it and reciting texts (mantra). The caste-men are feasted, and the women sing and dance. This is known as the Dashtaun. But if the child happen to be born in the asterism (nakshatra) of Mûl the Dashtaun is performed on the nineteenth or twenty-first day. Leaves of twenty-one trees or plants, such as the lime, mango, siras, jâmun, pomegranate, nîm, custard apple, etc., are collected. They also bring water from twenty-one wells, and little bits of lime stone (kankari) from twenty-one different villages. These things are all put into an earthen jar which is filled with water, and with this the mother is bathed. Grain and money are given to Brâhmans, and the purification is concluded. If twins are born, the father and mother sit together inside the sacred square on the day of the Dashtaun, and the Brâhman ties an amulet (râkhi), made of thread, round the wrists of both to keep off ill-luck. [Adoption.] 7. On an auspicious day selected by a Pandit the father of the boy makes him over to the person adopting him. The adopter then dresses the boy in new clothes and gives him sweetmeats. A feast is then given to the clansmen. The child to be adopted must be under the age of ten.