THE RELIGION AND CUSTOMS OF THE URAONS. 163 



plenty, symbolized by the beautiful ears of paddy. The bhctnda contains all that is neces- 

 sary to live and make the couple happy. The girls in the meantime have prepared a big 

 rice cake which is placed in a basket close to the bhanda. When the meal is over, two 

 women daubed with vermilion, one taking the basket and the other the bhanda on their head, 

 dance before the couple, singing most obscene songs : meanwhile the respective mothers 

 are cooking another big loaf of bread which will be eaten by everyone the next morning. 

 It is now very late in the night and everyone retires to sleep. The next morning 

 the bread cooked by the mother is taken to the dart or village spring where all the 

 women paratke of it. When they have finished they bring a ghagri of water with some 

 leaves of the mango tree in it. Meanwhile the bride and the bridegroom are in the house, 

 being anointed with oil and turmeric by their respective sisters. When everybody has 

 gathered under the bower, the boy and girl are brought out of the house, and a heap is 

 made of a plough yoke, a bundle of thatching grass and a curry-stone. The bride and 

 bridegroom are made to stand on the curry-stone, the boy touching the heels of the girl with 

 his toes, and a long piece of cloth is put round them to screen them from the public. Only 

 their heads and feet can be seen. A goblet full of vermilion is presented to the boy, who 

 dips his finger in it and makes three lines on the forehead of the girl ; and the girl does the 

 same to the boy, but as she has to reach him from over her shoulder and cannot see him, 

 the boy gets it anywhere in his face, which never fails to provoke most hearty burst of 

 laughter. The women throw then water over them and shout : "The marriage is done, the 

 marriage is done ! " whilst the bashful couple run back into the house. The people outside 

 drink and dance. After half an hour another ceremony takes place to invoke the protection 

 of the ancestors. A special mat is brought in the middle of the bower. Everyone 

 then makes room for the two fathers, who come and sit on the mat having before them six 

 leaf cups placed in a line, and two sirkis, or small earthen pots, with a small hole in the side. 

 Three handias, or pots of rice-beer, are brought out, two marked with vermilion. The latter 

 are for the Uraons while the third is for the ghasis or musicians. Rice-beer is prepared 

 from the handias marked with sindur and is poured into the sirkis. Silence is made, and 

 the fathers ask others in what village their respective forefathers were living. Then taking 

 each a sirki, they pour rice-beer in three leaf cups, by reaching one over the arm of 

 the other, invoking the shade of their forefathers and saying, " Render your shade and 

 protection ; we have settled this marriage satisfactorily among ourselves ; now protect 

 us, partake of the feast and drink the beer we offer you." They then spill some beer on 

 the ground, and the leaf cups are distributed among the crowd and refilled until 

 everyone has drunk of the sinduria hajidia. 



All this time the boy and the girl are inside the house. They are now called out 

 and made to sit together outside, where both mothers fondly cool them, by using a fold of 

 their sari as a fan, and then anoint them again with oil and daub them with vermilion. 

 They are then bound together by a knot made with their clothes, and they go round the 

 company making salam to everyone. They then retire into the house again to allow the 

 people to empty the new handias that have been brought. Every ceremony must always 

 be well watered with the home brew. After some time they are again called out and 

 have to assist at a brotherly ceremony called bainajhara or bhawabhasur handia. In this, 



