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
[Marriage rules.] 4. In Mirzapur the Nârâyaniha and Pânchopiriha septs
are exogamous, and intermarry on equal terms: they so far practise
hypergamy that they give daughters to the Maiwarha, but do not take
their daughters in return. This rule of exogamy is reinforced by the
prohibition against marrying a daughter into a family into which a son
has been already married; and it seems to be a general condition that
marriage does not take place between families connected within the
period of recollection of relationship, which is five or six
generations. The two great sub-castes, Kharê and Dhusiya, are
endogamous, and do not intermarry or eat together. The Mirzapur branch
have now adopted adult marriages, which take place at the age of ten or
twelve. [122] Polygamy is permitted, but the tendency seems to be to
restrict it to the case when the first wife becomes barren. Marriages
are arranged by some of the seniors of the tribe, and the parties have
no power of selection. No bride-price is paid, and the giving of a
dowry, though permitted and approved, is not compulsory. Polyandry and
concubinage with a woman not of the tribe are prohibited. Widows are
remarried by the sagâi form only to widowers, the match being arranged
by the father or brother of the widow. The man goes to the house of the
widow on an auspicious day, taking with him a yellow sheet and one or
two articles of jewelry. These the bride puts on, and this is the
binding part of the ceremony. Her new husband then eats with the
relations of his wife, takes her home next day, and feeds his clansmen.
Children by such a marriage are considered legitimate, and succeed on
an equality with children of a regular marriage. The levirate is
permitted on the usual condition, that the younger brother of the
deceased husband can claim the widow: if he declines the match she can
marry a stranger, and in the latter case the property of the deceased
husband with his children remains in the charge of their father’s
brother, who rears them and makes the property over to the sons when
they attain puberty. They pretend to have a regular system of adoption
like that of the higher castes: as a matter of practice, however, a
sonless man can adopt only the son of his brother, and in preference of
his elder brother. There is nothing peculiar about the rules of
succession. Beena marriage (gharjanwai) is recognised in the case of
poor people when the son-in-law lives some time on probation in the
house of his father-in-law. Intertribal infidelity on the part of
husband and wife is thought little of, and divorce is practically
unknown, except when ill-usage of an aggravated form accompanies
adultery on the part of the husband. A married woman detected in an
intrigue with a man of another tribe is permanently expelled. She
usually turns Muhammadan or becomes a prostitute.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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