DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16243#0454
APPENDIX VII 445
0 'nspection is made by the bride's parents to the bridegroom's house, and if
eveiythjjjg is found satisfactory the betrothal is concluded and an instalment of the
al ~Pr'ce's Paid. The ordinary price of a girl is Rs. 3, and the bridegroom must
If ° ^lesent a doth (sari) to the girl's mother and to both her grandmothers if alive,
more than this is paid, the bridegroom is entitled to receive a present of a cow
0rn h's father-in-law. In the case known as a srola/ marriaee, when two families,
each h .*> o j j
" naving a daughter and a son of marriageable age, arrange a double wedding,
ple daughter is set off against the other, and no bride-price is paid by either party.
r a widow or a woman who has been divorced the bride-price is only half the
standard amount, the idea being, as the Santals pointedly put it, that such women
are 0rdy borrowed goods, and must be given back to their first husbands in the
n.ext world. As the second husband has the use of his wife only in this world, it is
early fair that he should get her for half-price. In an early stage of the marriage
c^remony both bride and bridegroom separately go through the form of marriage
a mahua tree (Bassia (a/ifolid). In the case of the bride a double thread is
sed three or five times from the little toe of her left foot to her left ear, and is
en bound round her arm with some blades of rice and stems of duba grass
ynodon dactyloti). The conjecture suggests itself that this may be a sur-
al of some form of communal marriage, but from the nature of the case no
ve evidence is available to bear out this hypothesis, or to throw any light
P n the symbolism of the usage. The essential and binding portion of the ritual
sindurdan, the smearing of vermilion on the bride's forehead and on the parting
ler hair. This rite, however, is supposed to have been borrowed from the
"idus. The original Santal ceremony is believed to have been very simple. The
c°fple went away together into the woods and on their return were shut up by
ernselves in a room. When they came out they were considered to be man
• wife. A practice closely resembling this was found by Colonel Dalton to be
vogue among the Birhors, and it is quite in keeping with what is known of
e doings of primitive man in the matter of marriage. The memory of it, how-
er; only survives among the Santals in the form of a vague and shadowy tradition
r >k n Wn'cn no stress can be laid. Siudurdan, on the other hand, is nothing but a
. a"d specialised form of the really primitive usage of mixing the blood of a
aitJ'r couple and making them drink or smear themselves with the mixture, and
^.1QUgh it is possible that the Santals may have borrowed sindurdan from the
Indus, there are certainly good grounds for believing that the Hindus themselves
st have derived it from the Dravidian races,
or '1C second mode of marriage, gliardi jawae, is resorted to when a girl is ugly
Old' 6 ^ a°d there is no prospect of her being asked in marriage in the
0nenarv way. An instance has been reported to me in which a girl who had on
hush °0t more tnan the proper number of toes was married in this fashion. The
>'eai anC' 'S exPected to live in his father-in-law's house and to serve him for five
. • S" ^* tne end of that time he gets a pair of bullocks, some rice and some
cultural implements, and is allowed to go about his business,
w] 1 lnil'd form, itut, is adopted by pushing young men who are not cmite sure
her 16r S'fl they fancy will accept them, and take this means of compelling
With ° many them. The man smears his fingers with vermilion or, failing that,
0 common earth, and, watching his opportunity at market or on any similar
\vjj-g 10ni marks the girl he is in love with on the forehead and claims her as his
extto ^av'nS done this, he runs away at full speed to avoid the thrashing he may
girl' at l'le nands of her relations if he is caught on the spot. In any case the
kill ')eoP'e w''l go to his village and will obtain from the headman permission to
tfusM^ t'lree °^ tne offender's or his father's goats, and a double bride-price
decli ° ^a'^ ^or l'le §'r'" ^e marriage, however, is legal, and if the girl still
lr>es to live with the man, she must be divorced in full form and cannot again
0 'nspection is made by the bride's parents to the bridegroom's house, and if
eveiythjjjg is found satisfactory the betrothal is concluded and an instalment of the
al ~Pr'ce's Paid. The ordinary price of a girl is Rs. 3, and the bridegroom must
If ° ^lesent a doth (sari) to the girl's mother and to both her grandmothers if alive,
more than this is paid, the bridegroom is entitled to receive a present of a cow
0rn h's father-in-law. In the case known as a srola/ marriaee, when two families,
each h .*> o j j
" naving a daughter and a son of marriageable age, arrange a double wedding,
ple daughter is set off against the other, and no bride-price is paid by either party.
r a widow or a woman who has been divorced the bride-price is only half the
standard amount, the idea being, as the Santals pointedly put it, that such women
are 0rdy borrowed goods, and must be given back to their first husbands in the
n.ext world. As the second husband has the use of his wife only in this world, it is
early fair that he should get her for half-price. In an early stage of the marriage
c^remony both bride and bridegroom separately go through the form of marriage
a mahua tree (Bassia (a/ifolid). In the case of the bride a double thread is
sed three or five times from the little toe of her left foot to her left ear, and is
en bound round her arm with some blades of rice and stems of duba grass
ynodon dactyloti). The conjecture suggests itself that this may be a sur-
al of some form of communal marriage, but from the nature of the case no
ve evidence is available to bear out this hypothesis, or to throw any light
P n the symbolism of the usage. The essential and binding portion of the ritual
sindurdan, the smearing of vermilion on the bride's forehead and on the parting
ler hair. This rite, however, is supposed to have been borrowed from the
"idus. The original Santal ceremony is believed to have been very simple. The
c°fple went away together into the woods and on their return were shut up by
ernselves in a room. When they came out they were considered to be man
• wife. A practice closely resembling this was found by Colonel Dalton to be
vogue among the Birhors, and it is quite in keeping with what is known of
e doings of primitive man in the matter of marriage. The memory of it, how-
er; only survives among the Santals in the form of a vague and shadowy tradition
r >k n Wn'cn no stress can be laid. Siudurdan, on the other hand, is nothing but a
. a"d specialised form of the really primitive usage of mixing the blood of a
aitJ'r couple and making them drink or smear themselves with the mixture, and
^.1QUgh it is possible that the Santals may have borrowed sindurdan from the
Indus, there are certainly good grounds for believing that the Hindus themselves
st have derived it from the Dravidian races,
or '1C second mode of marriage, gliardi jawae, is resorted to when a girl is ugly
Old' 6 ^ a°d there is no prospect of her being asked in marriage in the
0nenarv way. An instance has been reported to me in which a girl who had on
hush °0t more tnan the proper number of toes was married in this fashion. The
>'eai anC' 'S exPected to live in his father-in-law's house and to serve him for five
. • S" ^* tne end of that time he gets a pair of bullocks, some rice and some
cultural implements, and is allowed to go about his business,
w] 1 lnil'd form, itut, is adopted by pushing young men who are not cmite sure
her 16r S'fl they fancy will accept them, and take this means of compelling
With ° many them. The man smears his fingers with vermilion or, failing that,
0 common earth, and, watching his opportunity at market or on any similar
\vjj-g 10ni marks the girl he is in love with on the forehead and claims her as his
extto ^av'nS done this, he runs away at full speed to avoid the thrashing he may
girl' at l'le nands of her relations if he is caught on the spot. In any case the
kill ')eoP'e w''l go to his village and will obtain from the headman permission to
tfusM^ t'lree °^ tne offender's or his father's goats, and a double bride-price
decli ° ^a'^ ^or l'le §'r'" ^e marriage, however, is legal, and if the girl still
lr>es to live with the man, she must be divorced in full form and cannot again