[The Mahra Bhoksas.] 5. The meaning of the word Mahra is not certain. The same title is applied to Kahârs when it means “a confidential person who enters the inner apartments” (Sanskrit mahilla, “a woman”). This name is applied only to the Dehra Dûn section, and fresh immigrants are known as Bhoksa. Marriage in a man’s gotra and in the family of the maternal uncle for two generations is prohibited. They may marry as many wives as they please, but two is usually the limit. If a girl, prior to marriage, is detected in an intrigue with a man of her own tribe, her parents have to pay a fine, which generally amounts to five rupees, to the tribal council, and then she is restored and allowed to marry in the tribe; but if her lover be a man of lower caste than herself she is permanently excommunicated. If her lover be a man of higher caste than herself the offence is condoned on payment of a fine of ten rupees. Boys are generally married at the age of twelve. No money is paid by either side. If the marriage be subsequently annulled and the girl marries again, her second husband has to refund the expenses of the first marriage. The only valid grounds for annulling a marriage are infidelity on the part of the wife or the impotence of the husband. If either leave the other for any reason other than the above they will be fined by the council. When a man divorces his wife all he does is to turn her out of his house and inform the council. Widows can marry again by the form known as karâo. Children, the fruit of such union, are regarded as legitimate, and inherit on the same footing as the offspring of a regular marriage. It is asserted that the widow may marry the elder as well as the younger brother of her late husband; but this is so much opposed to the usual custom regulating such cases that it must be received with caution. When the widow marries outside the family of her late husband the guardianship of the children of the first marriage passes to her husband’s brothers. There is no trace of the fiction by which the children of the second marriage are attributed to the late husband.