[Marriage ceremonies.] 3. The marriage ceremonies are in the standard form. Respectable people marry by the common charhana ritual, which begins with the ceremonies at the door of the bride’s house (darwâza châr or duâr châr). When they come to the marriage shed (mânro), the officiating Brâhman does the usual worship. The bride’s younger brother sprinkles parched grain over the pair, and receives from the father of the bride a sheet, which is known as lâi bhujua, or the remuneration for parching rice. Then the bridegroom rolls a stone over the parched rice on the ground, and this is known as the “line of the stone” (patthar kî lakîr), which is the binding part of the ceremony. Then follows the tying of the clothes (ganth bandhan), and the circumambulation of the fire (bhanwari). Next comes the pâsa sâr, where the bride and bridegroom exchange jewels—a survival of the gambling custom which appears in the standard ritual. Then follows the feeding of the bridegroom (bâsi khilâna), and the usual feast to the clansmen. After the marriage is over, on an auspicious day, the grass used as thatch for the wedding shed and other things are thrown into a river or tank by the women. This is called maur serwâna, “the setting afloat of the marriage crown.” The lower kind of marriage is called pair pûjna, in which all the ceremonies are done at the house of the husband. The last form, dharaua, is simple concubinage. Persons who have not been married till they are of advanced years very often keep a woman in this way. [Disposal of the dead.] 4. Those who die of cholera or snake-bite, and young children, are buried; others are cremated. There is no fixed burial-ground, and no ceremonies are performed at the time of burial. Richer people keep the ashes for removal to some sacred stream; others bury them. After the cremation a stalk of kusa grass is fixed in the ground near a tank, and water and sesamum is poured upon it for ten days so as to convert it into a refuge for the spirit until the rites are completed. [Religion.] 5. They employ Brâhmans as priests. Their chief object of worship is Devi, to whom goats are sacrificed. Young pigs are also occasionally offered to her. The worshippers make the sacrifice and consume the meat themselves. They observe the usual festivals. On the Barsâti Amâwas, on the fifteenth of Jeth, women worship a banyan tree by walking round it and tying a thread round the trunk. This they do to increase the life of their husbands. Women fast on the Tîja, or third day of Bhâdon. At the Godiya, on the fifth of Kârttik, they worship the dragon, Nâg Deota, and girls offer dolls to Devi and Mahâdeva. The care of malignant spirits is the business of the exorcisor (nâwat). Women reverence the bargad or banyan tree, because its name (bargad) is supposed to be connected with their husbands (bar).