The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)Crooke, William
History
The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 2 (of 4)
Crooke, William
Caste -- India -- History; Hindus -- India; Tribes -- India -- History
Her brother gives him a sip of tamarind mixed with
sugar and water. He spits it out on the palm of his mother, who licks
it up, and receives a present for doing so from her brother. Then comes
the parachhan ceremony as described among Majhwârs (para. 16). The
bridegroom then starts in procession for the bride’s house accompanied
by his relatives and clansmen.
[Ceremonies at the house of the bride.] 16. At the bride’s house a
marriage shed (mânro) has been erected. The posts, nine in number, are
formed of the wood of the siddh tree (Hardwickia binata), and roofed
with bamboos. The first post is erected by the village Baiga, and the
work finished by the male relations of the bride. Mango leaves are hung
on the pillars. At the same time a post of siddh wood is planted in the
ground at the door of the cook-house and covered with a cloth. This
post is decorated with red lead and turmeric, and is known as “the
auspicious one” (Kalyâni). When the procession approaches the bride’s
house, her relatives and friends go in a body (paghar) to receive the
bridegroom. The bridegroom is led in and seated in the square (chauk)
in the court-yards opposite his father-in-law, who makes a mark (tîka)
of rice and curd on his forehead. The bridegroom then with his friends
retires to the place arranged for them under a shady tree near the
village. This is the janwânsa. The relatives of the bride follow them
there and wash their feet. After this the bridegroom’s father sends the
bride a piece of stamped cloth (chunari), which she wears at the
wedding. Her father then invites the bridegroom to his house, where he
enters, and, seizing the bride roughly by the hand (an obvious survival
of marriage by capture [84]) brings her out into the marriage shed, and
seats her on his left near a branch of the siddh tree, which is fixed
in the ground in the centre of the shed. He then goes through the form
of marrying himself to the tree by marking it with red lead, and after
this rubs red lead on the parting of the bride’s hair. This done, the
bride’s father, or in some instances a Brâhman, who gets a fee of one
rupee, ties the garments of the pair in a knot and they walk round the
siddh branch five times. Each time as they go round when they approach
the water jar (kalsa [85]) the bride’s brother pours a little rice into
the bride’s bosom. The bridegroom then with his party retires. Next
morning is the ceremony of eating khichari or boiled rice and pulse.
The bridegroom goes to the bride’s house accompanied by five unmarried
boys of the same sept as himself. It is the etiquette that he refuses
to eat until he gets a present. After this the clansmen on both sides
are entertained.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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