76 



Ghurharee Gosawees. 



[No. 



ed connection ( Fat ) with another man, who however is obliged 

 to give her up if required by the husband, and is reimbursed in 

 the amount of his expenses. If, on the other hand, the husband de- 

 cline taking his wife, he is reimbursed and she is no longer his wife ; 

 the husband, though he may take his wife, is not obliged to support 

 her illegitimate offspring. The pat is not allowed to widows. 



49. If a man separate from his wife and give her a CKhor Chittee 

 or Deed of Divorce, they can never reunite. If no such paper be 

 given at the time of separation, he may take her back. Adultery on 

 the part of a Gosawunee is followed by expulsion from the order if 

 committed with other than one of the brethren. The wife who has 

 received a Deed of Divorce may form a pat connection ; she who has 

 not is not at liberty to make such contract without her husband's 

 permission. 



50. The assembly of the Dusname exists upon exactly the same 

 principles among the Ghurharee as among other Gosawees ; as how- 

 ever the former are divided into families consisting of man and wife 

 with their offspring and collateral relatives, there is of course no such 

 person as the Gooroo of the Mufh. 



51. The above information, as far as it goes, may I think be con- 

 sidered correct ; it was obtained by referring queries to the Pilgrims, 

 who last year visited the source of the Godaveree at Trimhuk near 

 NassicJc, They at first received the proposal to disclose the laws of 

 their order to the public authorities with the greatest hauteur ; when 

 however it was explained to them, that the measure was only adopt- 

 ed to enable Government to decide upon Civil Suits in which their 

 brethren were parties, they relented and cheerfully imparted what 

 was solicited. As therefore the motive for giving the information at 

 all was to benefit themselves, it is not likely that they have practis- 

 ed deceit to the prejudice of their own rights ; several thousand 

 Gosawees of the first rank from all parts of India attended the Yatra, 

 and each had access, to, and ascertained the accuracy of the infor- 

 mation given by another. The same question was frequently put in 

 two or three diff*erent shapes, and an air of consistency pervades 

 the whole, which could not perhaps have been efl^ected by falsehood ; 

 even if it had been an object to have kept us in ignorance. 



