108 MR. C. A. SHERRING ON 



two envoys are sent from the groom's village to the girl's father, who ask the village 

 elders to help them to persuade the father to accept the fait accompli, and present 

 him with liquor and cloth. This ceremony is called binti, or intercession. The father 

 proves reasonable, and a day is fixed for the bride and bridegroom, with two or three others, 

 to pay their first visit to his house (this visit is called nashi). On the appointed day the 

 groom's party arrives with sheep and goats for liquor and sattu for dalangs. In the 

 early morning two sheep or goats are slaughtered, and the liver being removed is carefully 

 examined by the local seer, who foretells the future. Before the village panch, or gather- 

 ing of elders, twenty-nine rupees are tied up in white cloth and handed over ; seven 

 rupees being the mother's milk-money {nuthung, nu = mi\k, thung= drink), known as 

 "dud moV in Kumaon, and twenty-one rupees for the father, and an extra rupee to 

 make up an odd sum, odd numbers being considered lucky. If the father is a rich man, 

 he refuses to receive his share, looking upon the payment as the Joharis do upon 

 kanyadan. Cloth is given to each relation and to the village headman, and dalangs, 

 meat and drink are offered to the gods and then consumed. The tops of the dalangs 

 are broken and pieces exchanged as in datu. Jan is given to the father and mother and 

 relations, as well as to the panch, in small cups, and in each case a rupee, or an 

 eight-anna piece, or some other coin, is presented to the drinker in the cup. This rite is 

 known as yar. Finally, on a lucky day, the bride and bridegroom are allowed to go home, 

 but not till each relative has given the bride cloth for a covering (barko) or dress (as 

 (jujang). Her father, however, gives her nothing as he is considered to have done his duty 

 to her, while unmarried, in presenting her with jewellery, and it is known that he will give 

 presents afterwards up to the time of the birth of her first child. 



It sometimes happens that a girl is carried away in reality by force from the 

 rambang, but unless and until she eats dalang, datu and jan with her captor she is not 

 considered to be married to him. If she is conniving at the elopement, against the will of 

 her parents, and formally eats and drinks the ceremonial food, in process of time her rela- 

 tions are compelled to accept what cannot be mended. There have been instances when 

 three parties of boys have been determined to carry off the same girl, and have blocked 

 all the tracks, the girl being finally taken off across an almost impossible mountain- 

 slope ; but such cases are not the common practice of the people. 



Divorce and Remarriage. — The customs of divorce and remarriage are very similar 

 to those among the Johar and Niti Bhotias. In divorcing a woman the husband gives 

 her a than, or piece of white cloth (known as jujang) in Byans and Chaudans, and a sum 

 of money, rupees twenty-two, in patti Darma. The cloth is invariably white, the idea being 

 to give her, and her children by any subsequent marriage, purity and legitimacy, and 

 until the cloth is given no divorce has taken place ; in fact, should a man elope with 

 another man's wife {chain ) he is shoe-beaten, and his goats and sheep stolen/rom him with 

 their packs (karbaj), and the children are illegitimate. The husband, or any of his 

 close relations, can so treat the erring man, or any of his close relations, and in doing 

 criminal work it is useful for the Magistrate to be aware of the universal practice. The 

 children are known as Teliyas until the second husband, or his children, have held a 

 formal panchayat with the first husband, or his descendants, and an official account has 



