THE PEOPLE

RITUALS AND CEREMONIES

Hindus.

For the Hindu, religion plays an important part in the context of his family life as also at every stage of the individual's life. Life for him is a round of rituals and ceremonies and most of the Hindu customs and traditions consist of ritualistic practices related to various religious observances known as samskaras or sacraments. According to the Hindu dharmashastra, the individual has to pass through many samskaras which are really sharira samskaras, because these are intended to sanctify the body (sharira) beginning from the moment the foetus is laid (gqrbha-dhana) to the death (antyeshti) of a person. The number of these Samskaras differs according to different authorities and some say there are 16 which are compulsory (nitya) and 24 which are optional (naimittika) These are usually conducted under the direction of Brahman priests who on their part say that they use Vedic texts for Brahmans and Puranic texts for others. Of late even the 16 of these sacraments are reduced to half a dozen in most of the Hindu communities and are observed in respect of birth, thread-girding, marriage, pregnancy and death. A samskara is usually preceded by a symbolic sacrifice (homa).

Pregnancy and Child-birth.

The garbhadhana or foetus-laying ceremony to be performed at the consummation of marriage, was of social significance when child- marriages were in vogue. At present the ritual is symbolically included in the marriage ceremony itself without any bustle or tom-toming that was once a feature of social life particularly among the high castes.

The grihyasutras prescribed for the benefit of the pregnant woman a number of observances of a magico-religious nature and believers in the efficacy of Vedic rites follow them to varying extent. The pumsavana Samskara or the 'male-making' rite may be performed during the third month of the wife's pregnancy, so that the deities governing the sex of the foetus would be propitiated and a male issue assured.

The Jatakarma ceremony may be performed at the birth of the child. Here the father has to touch and smell the child, utter benedictory mantras into its ears expressing his wish that it may be endowed with long life and intelligence. However, the first popular ritual in an infant's life is the Panchavi and Shashthi i.e., the ritual observed on the fifth and sixth day after birth. On the fifth day, a configuration of a betel-nut, rice, flowers, sandal-paste and a sickle or a sword arranged on a pat in the lying-in-room in the name of Panchavi or Mother Fifth is bowed to by the mother with a prayer to save the child from the attacks of evil spirits On the sixth day, a blank sheet of paper and a reed pen and an ink-stand are set on a stool and worshipped as Satvai or Mother Sixth and a few friends are feasted. Though these worships have no Vedic basis, as a Samskara, they are observed among many castes including Brahmans.

Naming Ceremony.

The namdheya rite is performed on the 10th or 12th day after birth when the child is given a name. Popularly the ceremony is called barse and its observance varies according to caste. In higher castes, a Brahman is usually called in and he proposes certain names considered auspicious in view of the astrological circumstances of child-birth. The family selects one of these names but usually two names and sometimes more are given, one of which is kept for common use and the other for ceremonial use. The horoscope is usually cast and read, the name proclaimed, pansupari and sweets distributed and drums beaten. In some castes, a ceremonial 'cradling is held in the evening by women of the house and the 'naming' celebrated On this day the child receives gifts from relatives in the form of clothes, gold and cash. The Karnavedha (piercing of the ear-lobes) may take place the same morning or may be postponed to the sixth or twelfth month. If the male child is subject to avow, his right nostril is bored and a gold wire rag put into it. The twelfth day is also important in that on this day, the mother who since giving birth to the child was considered unclean, is proclaimed to be clean. On this day, the confinement room is thoroughly cleaned and this is the first day on which the male folk could go to see the mother and the child.

The naming ceremony as observed among the lower castes is much more simple, for example, among the Mangs the name is conferred by five old women who standing in a circle swing the child in their saris and repeat the name.

Annaprashana.

Among higher class Hindus, a ceremony called annaprashana celebrates the first feeding of the child. It may take place in the fifth or sixth month after birth but some castes perform the rite for a male child in the seventh month and for a female in the sixth. An auspicious day is chosen and relatives are invited who come with gifts for the child. Food which is usually Khir or rice boiled with milk and sugar is put in the mouth of the child with a golden ring or a silver spoon. In some castes, the maternal uncle of the child officiates at this function.

Javal.

Then comes the hair-cutting ceremony, known as javal. As a samskara it is known as Chuda-Karma or the first tonsure of the hair for the sake of dharma and is performed in the first or third year or at any age according to the tradition of the family. At present the rite is gone through prior to upanayana among higher castes; lower castes are much more keen to observe it as a ceremony, thinking that the hair the child is born with is impure and must be removed with social celebration.

Threadgirding.

The thread-girding ceremony or munja as it is popularly known is prescribed for all Hindus claiming a place in the first three varnas. The ceremony is also called upanayana or the introduction to knowledge since by it, the boy acquires the right to read the sacred books. Until the ceremony is performed, he is not really a member of the three higher castes (dvijd).

For a boy (Kumara) the upanayana after eighth, eleventh and twelfth years from birth is considered the proper time for the ceremony. There are also rules regarding the muhurtas (auspicious times) to be determined according to the birth stars of the boy. The ceremony always takes place between morning and noon, never after midday.

Preparations may begin a few days before the thread girding day. Drummers and pipers to play at the ceremony are engaged. A booth is erected in which a bahule (decorated platform} is constructed. Invitation cards are sent to distant relations and friends. Kinsmen and intimates invite the boy to a congratulatory feast called Kelavana and present him with clothes and money. A formal invitation ceremony (akshat) is held a day or two before thread-girding when the- local temple of Ganapati is visited and the God is prayed to be present at the thread ceremony; personal invitations are then given to the local friends and relatives.

In the early morning of the lucky day, musicians start playing on the drum and pipe. The ghana ceremony is gone through with the help of not less than five suvasinis [Suvasini-A term of courtesy for a woman whose husband is alive.] Prior to the upanayana ceremony proper, the usual propitiatory rites are gone through with the same procedural details as before the performance of an auspicious, samskara. These are Ganapati and Matrika pujana (worship of Ganapati and Matrika deities), punyahavachana (the holy day blessing) and Devaka pratishtha (installation of Devaka). The ceremony of Chaula (shaving the boy's head), if it was not performed in childhood, is gone through and the boy is then bathed and taken to the dining hall. There, boys, called batus wearing the sacred thread but not married, are seated in a row and served with food. While they eat, the boy's mother sitting in front of the batus sets her son on her lap, feeds him and herself, eats from the same plate. This over, the boy is taken to the barber who shaves all the locks that were left on his head except the top-knot. The boy is then bathed and made ready for the upanayana ceremony.

The boy and his parents enter the booth and take their seats on the three pats (wooden stools) arranged on the bahule. The father begins the ceremony by giving away some cash to make for the neglect in failing to perform the samskaras at their proper time. The father then sits on a pat with his face to the east, while the boy stands before hirn facing west and the priests hold between them a curtain marked with Swastika (lucky cross) in vermilion. The priests recite mangalashtakas, auspicious verses and the guests throw akshatas (rice mixed with kumkum) on the boy and his father. At the proper muhurta (lucky moment) the priests stop chanting, musicians redouble their netes, the curtain is pulled to the north and the boy lays his head on this father's feet. The father blesses him and seats him on his right. The guests are then regaled with pan, perfume and rose-water and sweet drink. It is now getting customary to make some present to the batu (boy) on this occasion.

The upanayana ritual begins immediately. A vedi (earthen altar) is traced in front of the father, blades of darbha grass spread over it and a homagni (sacrificial fire) is kindled on it. Offerings of ajya (ghee), sesamum and seven kinds of samidhas (sacred fuel sticks) are made to the fire. The boy then approaches with folded hands the acharya (head-priest) with a request to make him a brahmachari (Vedic student). The acharya grants his request. He daubs a cotton string in oil and turmeric, ties it round the boy's waist and white one round his shoulders. Another cotton string daubed with oil and turmeric and a bit of dear skin passed into it is placed over on the boy's left shoulder and below the right arm. He hands over to him the consecrated Yajnopavita [The sacred thread is made by a Brahman who spins a thread as long as 96 times the breadth of four fingers and from cotton obtained from a cotton tree growing wild. The thread is first folded into three and again trebled and the folds held together by a knot, called Brahmagranthi or Brahma's knot. The thread hangs from the left shoulder, falling on to the right hip; sometimes when a man is married he wears a double thread of six strands, the second being for his wife and after his father dies, a treble one of nine strands.] (sacred thread) and a danda (staff) of palas. The boy is made to pass between the fire and his father and sip three achamanas and repeat Vedic texts. He then goes back between the fire and his father and takes his seat. The preceptor then gives the boy a coconut and taking him by the hand goes out of the booth and both bow to the sun. On their return to the seats, the preceptor takes the boy's right hand and asks him to state his name and to say whose brahmachari he has become. When the boy mentions his name and says he is his preceptor's brahmachari, the preceptor lets go the boy's hand, takes him round the homa and seating him by his side makes nine offerings to the fire. He then says to the boy: " You have now become a brahmachari; you must observe religious exactness; you must sip achamana before taking food; you must not sleep during the day; you must control your speech; you must keep alive the sacred fire and cleanse your mouth after taking food". The boy then sitting on the north of the fire bows to the preceptor and begs to be initiated into the mysteries of the sacred verse; the boy and the preceptor or father are covered with a shawl and the preceptor thrice, whispers the sacred gayatri into the boy's right ear first, syllable by syllable, next phrase by phrase and then the whole verse. The shawl is taken away, and all return to their seats and give blessings to the Vedic student and his father.

The preceptor then makes four offerings of Samidha to the fire and then the boy makes an offering of one samidha, and wipes his face thrice with words purporting. "I anoint myself with lustre and may Agni and Indra bestow on me insight, offspring and vigour." The preceptor concludes the sacrifice with the final oblations and sprinkles sacred water over the head of the boy and in all directions. Many presents are then made to the priests who bless the Vedic student and the father.

At noon the priest teaches the boy to recite the madhyanha Sandhya (mid-day prayer) and in the evening the Sayam Sandhya (evening prayer). The ceremony of bhikshavala (asking alms) is then held. The boy and his relatives go in a procession to the temple of Ganapati with music and company and on return the boy is seated near the altar. To his mother, who approaches him there, the boy says "Bhavati, bhiksham dehi" (Lady, be pleased to give alms) and holds a cloth wallet before her. The mother blesses him and puts in the wallet some sweet balls, rice and gold or silver coin. Other married women follow suit to each of whom the boy addresses in the same manner and each presents him some sweet balls and money. The contents of the wallet go to the priest who gives part of the sweetmeats to the boy and keeps the rest to himself.

The whole of the upanayana ceremony is usually wound up in a day, of late. Formerly, when it used to last for four days, each day, the boy was taught to offer his morning, midday and evening prayers and made to worship the sacred fire kindled on the first day. The last rite of the upanayana ceremony is medhajanana. A small square earthen mound is raised and a palas branch planted in it. The boy pours water round the plant and prays to Medha, the goddess of the mind, to give him knowledge and wealth. The boy is now a brahmachari, an unmarried Vedic student and from now on for some years should learn the Vedas at the feet of his guru and on completion of the studies should undergo the Samavartana (return) ceremony. But according to current practice, the Samavartana or sodmunj as it is called in Marathi, follows immediately after upanayana. The boy makes over to the priest the loin cloth, the staff, the dear skin etc. and puts on new clothes, a jari cap, a pair of shoes, takes an umbrella and sets out as if on a journey to Banaras. Usually, the boy's maternal uncle or some one like him, dissuades him from the journey and promises to give him his daughter in marriage so that the boy may end his brahmacharyashrama and become a grihastha (householder).

Marriage Ceremonies.

Priests from both sides in common consultation fix the day and hour for the auspicious event and it is the priest belonging to the bride's family who generally officiates with his assistants.

The essential marriage rituals, which obtain among some Hindus are Vagnishchaya, Simantapujana, Madhuparka, Antarpat, Sutraveshtana, Panigrahana, Lajahoma, Saptapadi etc., and occasionally Airanipradana. In interpretation of these Shastric injunctions from the grihyasutras, the following ceremonies are gone through in a popular way:-

Akshat.-When the wedding day is fixed, invitations in the form of printed letters are sent round beginning with housegods. On an auspicious day, the relatives of the bride and bride-groom go together in procession to the temples of Ganapati and Devi to invite the god and the goddess and offer them coconuts, betel-nuts, kumkum etc. The priest accompanying the procession invokes the god to be present at the wedding and ward off all evil. After this, a married pair from each party go round inviting friends and relations.

In the evening previous to the marriage day, the ceremony of Simant-apujana or honouring the party of the bride-groom on the entrance to the town or village takes place. The parents of the bride with their relatives go to the bride-groom's house with gifts. First they worship there Ganapati (represented by an areca-nut), Varuna (represented by a water pot), a lamp and the earth. The feet of the bride-groom are then washed and a dress is offered to him. Next, the bride's mother washes the feet of the bride-groom's mother and fills her and her female relations' laps with wheat and pieces of dry coconut kernel. The assembled guests are presented with betel-leaves and betel-nuts and Brahmans with money gifts.

Vagnishchaya or the ceremony of oral promise takes place at night. The bride-groom's parents and relations go to the bride's house with a dress and ornaments for the bride. The fathers of the bride and the bridegroom exchange a coconut and embrace each other. The bride-groom's father presents the bride with the ornaments and dress brought for her. After the distribution of pan-supari, they disperse.

Halad or the turmeric ceremony: In the morning of the wedding day, the girl is anointed with turmeric paste at her house by some married ladies of both sides, the remaining portion of which is taken to the boy's house where he is anointed with it in the same way.

Devapratishtha or installation of deities: Before the ceremony begins, the bride with her parents is bathed in hot water by some unwidowed women. After changing clothes and bowing to the house-gods and elders, the bride's parents begin the ceremony which consists of the worship of the planets (represented by areca-nuts), Ganapati, Varuna and Avighna Kalasha. The last is an earthen jar daubed with white and red colours. It contains turmeric roots, areca-nuts, a copper coin and sweet-meats. Its mouth is covered by cotton thread passed round several times. It is prayed for warding off all evil. This ceremony takes place at the bride-groom's house also.

Gauri-pujana : It is performed by the bride alone. She worships in the house the goddess Parvati or Gauri and sits there till the wedding time, praying the goddess to grant her a happy wifehood and long life to her would be husband.

Rukhvat.-When the time for the wedding draws near, a party from the bride's side takes several dishes of sweet-meats to the bride-groom's. house and serves them to the bride-groom and his relations. The bridegroom is honoured and presented with articles of dress by the bride's father. The priest then asks the bride-groom to bow to the housegods and the elders. Garlanded and dressed in new clothes, with a fingermark of lamp black on his either cheek, the bride-groom rides a horse or is seated in a car. He is taken in a procession to the bride's house, the females waiting just behind him and the males behind the females.

Mangalashtaka.-When the procession reaches the bride's house, cooked rice mixed with curds is waved on the bride-groom's face. Next the bride's mother washes the feet of the bride-groom's mother who returns to her place as she has not to hear the marriage verses. The bride-groom is led to the marriage booth where the priests lay two pats and make the bride-groom and the bride stand on them facing each other. They are given a garland each. An antarpat (curtain) marked with swastika is stretched between the pair so that they may not see each other. They are told to look at the swastika and pray to their family gods. Mangalakshtas (reddened unbroken rice) are distributed among the guests. The priests standing on either side of the curtain, start chanting mangalashtakas (auspicious verses),; and they and the assembled guests, relatives and friends throw the reddened rice at the pair. When the verses end, the curtain is withdrawn to the north amidst the clapping and beating of drums and blowing of the pipes. The eyes of the boy and, the girl meet and the bride first puts the garland in her hand round the neck of the bride-groom and he round that of the bride. They then throw the mixture of rice grains etc., over each other's heads. Guests, relations and friends are then entertained. Each is given a flower boquet, a sprinkle of rose-water, a smear of attar and pansupari. They are regaled with spiced milk or sweet drinks. Money is distributed among Brahman priests.

Kanyadana.-An elaborate rite by which the parents of the bride hand over the bride to the bride-groom's care and request him to treat her well during her life-time, is gone through by repetition of Sanskrit mantras.

Marriage Sacrifice or Lajahoma.-The pair is led to the altar where fire is kindled. The priest asks them to worship the fire and throw parched rice and ghee into it. He asks them to take mutual oaths that they will remain each other's partners during their life-time for weal or woe. These oaths are taken in the presence of the fire, the earth, the priest and gods.

Saptapadi.-Seven small heaps of rice are made on the altar and an areca-nut placed on each of them. The priest recites mantras and the bride-groom lifts the bride's right foot and places it on the heaps in succession. When the seventh heap is crossed, the marriage is complete.

Sutraveshtana and Kankanabandhana.-The priest passes cotton thread round the pair twelve times, which is then taken off and divided into two parts. The pair is made to fasten these on each other's wrists.

Sadi or Robe Ceremony.-The bride is presented with a Sadi and Choli (bodice) and her lap filled with wheat, a coconut and some fruits by the priest and some unwidowed women.

Sunmukh.-The bride-groom's mother puts on the bride all the ornaments made for her and looks at her face. She presents the daughter-in-law with new clothes and puts sugar in her mouth.

Zal or Airani-pradana.-An airani or zal which is a wicker-work basket containing several gifts such as coconuts, areca-nuts, fruits, cooked food etc,, is presented by the bride's father to the bride-groom's mother and other relatives. The basket is held on the head of the person to be honoured and while some water is poured on it, the priest, on behalf of the bride's father says: " We have given you the good-natured daughter, well-nourished and healthy and request you to treat her kindly. "

Varat.-The procession both of the bride and bride room in which the latter takes the former to his house in a carriage witB music and accompanied by males and females from both sides, is taken.

Lakshmi-pujan.-The goddess of wealth is worshipped by the pair at the bride-groom's house immediately after the varat procession reaches there.

Naming.-The maiden name of the bride is changed and she is given a new name by which she is known afterwards in her husband's family. Betel packets and sugar are distributed to the party assembled and money to Brahmans. A ritualistic closure to the marriage ceremony is put with the rites whereby the deities that had been invited before the ceremony began are taken leave of and the marriage booth is dismantled. Social exchange of feasts ends the ceremony.

Death Rites.

The Hindus who follow Vedic or Puranic rites usually cremate their dead. Backward communities such as Dhangars, Chambhars, Kolis, Vadars etc. either burn or bury; Mahars, Mangs etc., as a rule practise burial. The tribals have their funerary customs of their own. Except that they do not use mantras, the main funerary observances of lower class Hindus are the same as those of a Vedic cremation. Sanyasis, when they die, receive a ceremonial burial called Samadhi. Infants who have not cut their teeth and those persons who have died of small-pox or leprosy are buried. Where fuel is scarce and dear, the poorer sections of the community often bury. In other cases the dead are usually burnt. The bones and ashes of the dead are generally thrown into the sea or a river and sometimes a part of the bones is preserved in order that it may be consigned to the waters of a sacred river like the Ganga.

When a person is on the point of death, the nearest kinsman sits close to dying man and comforts him, assuring him that his family would be well taken care of. A small piece of gold is laid in his mouth and a few drops of Ganga water are poured into it. When life is extinct the body is removed from the bed or cot and laid with the head to the north on ground and washed with cowdung water; holy water is sprinkled on it and wreath of Tulsi leaves is put round its neck. The chief mourner has to undergo purificatory bath, while the priest chants some mantras. If the deceased is an ascendant, the chief mourner and other mourners of the same degree shave their heads (except the top-knot) and moustaches. Having done this, he offers oblations of rice (pindas) in honour of the dead. The corpse is bathed and wrapped up in a new dhotar or lugade, according as the dead person is a man or a woman. If the deceased is a female, with her husband living, she is arrayed in a yellow cloth and with some of the ornaments in her customary use, decked with flowers, rubbed with turmeric paste and Kumkum marks placed on her brow. These honours are not shown to a widow. All the relations present, men and women, bow to the dead. Finally, the corpse is put on a ladder-like bier of bamboo and borne by four persons on their shoulders to the cremation ground, the priest and the Chief mourner, (who holds the sacred fire for burning the dead body) walking in front of the sacred fire. Women do not accompany a funeral procession. All persons attending the procession are bare-headed. Half way to the cremation ground, the oblation of rice is repeated and they are offered a third time on reaching the cremation ground. With the help of the live charcoal brought along a fire called mantragni is prepared, the corpse is laid on the pyre and the chief mourner then ignites it with the fire. Immediately after the body is burnt, the chief mourner goes round the pyre thrice with a trickling water pot (in which the fire was brought) and finally throws the pot backward over the shoulders spilling the water to cool the spirit of the dead which has been heated by the fire. He then pours water mixed with sesamum and rest of the mourners follow suit. The party then returns when the body is completely consumed. During the first ten days, all persons belonging to the gotra of the deceased observe mourning (sutak).

Obsequies.

The shraddha and funeral obsequies are the only ceremonies performed for the salvation of the ancestors. A special ceremony called Narayan Bali may be performed for those that have died of accident, but in the case of one dying childless no departure from the ordinary rites takes place. The funeral obsequies age perfomed during the first thirteen days after death. Oblations of rice are offered every day, in consequence of which the soul of the deceased is supposed to attain a spiritual body, limb by limb, till on the 13th day, it is enabled to start on its further journey. Oblations are also offered on the 27th day and sometimes thereafter on the day of the death, once in every month for a year of which. the six-monthly and the bharani oblations (i.e., the Shraddha performed on the fifth of the dark half of Bhadrapad) are essential; and after a year has elapsed, the oblations of the first anniversary day are celebrated with great solemnity. The annual shraddha is performed on the day corresponding to the day of death in the latter half of the month of Bhadrapad. Where the deceased's family can afford it, a shraddha is also performed on the anniversary day known as the Kshayatithi. While performing the shraddha for one's deceased father, offerings are also made to other ancestors and to deceased collaterals. Women dying within the life-time of, their husbands have special oblations offered to them during their husband's life-time. This takes place on the ninth day of the pitripaksha and is called the Avidhava Navami day.

Muslims.

The rites and ceremonies observed by Muslims chiefly consist of those as relating to pregnancy, birth, naming, sacrifice, initiation, betrothal, marriage,, and death.

Pregnancy.

In the seventh or ninth month of pregnancy, a fertility rite may be performed as among Hindus. The woman is dressed in new clothes and her lap is filled with fruits and vegetables by her friends. In some localities, a ceremony to propitiate the spirits of ancestors is performed.

Child birth.

A woman goes to her parent's home after the last pregnancy rite and stays there till her confinement is over. The rites performed by the midwife at birth resemble those of the Hindus. When the child is born, the azan or summons to prayer is uttered aloud in its right ear and the takbir or Muslim creed in its left. The child is named on the sixth or seventh day. The proper name for the male child is often formed by combining the prefix abd or servant, gulam or slave, or suffix baksh or given by to the numerous titles of God. e.g. Abd-ul-Aziz, Rahim, Razam; Gulam Hussain; Khuda-baksh, Hyder-baksh, etc.

Ukika Sacrifice.

After child-birth, the mother must not pray or fast, touch the Koran or enter a mosque for forty days; on the expiry of this period, she is bathed and dressed in good clothes and her relatives bring presents to the child. On the fortieth day, the child is placed in a cradle for the first time. In some localities, a rite called ukika is performed after the birth of a child. It consists of a sacrifice, in the name of the child, of two he-goats for a boy and one for a girl. The goats must be above a year old and without spot or blemish. The meat must be separated from the bones so that not a bone is broken and the bones, skin, feet and head afterwards buried in the ground. When the flesh is served, the father offers a prayer to the " Almighty God."

Either on the same day as the Ukika sacrifice or soon,afterwards, the child's hair is shaved and tied up in a piece of cloth and either buried or thrown into a river. Rich parents weigh the hair against «ilver and distribute the same to beggars.

Ear-boring.

It was once customary among Muslims to bore the earlobes of a girl when she was one or two years old. The holes were bored along the edges of the ear step by step and even in the centre and by the time, she was two or three years old, she had 13 holes in the right ear and 12 in the left. Little silver rings and various kinds of earrings were insert ed and worn in the holes. The practice is now on the wane among the better class Muslims.

Salgirah. Circumcision.

The child's birthday is known as Salgirah and is celebrated by a feast. When the child is four years, four months and four days old the ceremony of Bismillah or taking the name of God is held which is obligatory on all Muslims. Friends are invited and the child, dressed in a flowered robe (sahra), repeats the first chapters of the Koran after his or her tutor.

A boy is usually circumcised at the age of six or seven but as may be the custom among some classes of Shias and Arabs, the operation is performed a few days after birth. The barber operates and the child is usually, given a little bhang or other opiate. When a girl arrives at the age of puberty, she is secluded for seven days and for this period eats only butter and bread, sugar, fish, flesh, salt and acid food are prohibited. In the evening, she is given a warm water bath and among lower classes, an entertainment is given to friends.

Marriage.

Among Muslims, no specific religious ceremony is required nor are any rites essential for the contraction of a valid marriage. If both persons are legally competent and contract marriage with each other in the presence of two males or one male and two female witnesses, it is sufficient. The Shia law dispenses even with witnesses. As a rule, the Kazi performs the ceremony and reads four chapters of the Koran with the profession of belief, the bridegroom repeating them after him. The parties then express their mutual consent and the Kazi raising his hands recites a benediction. A dowry or Meher must be paid to the wife, which under the law, must not be less than ten silver dir hams or draema, but it is customary to fix it at Rs. 17 or Rs. 750. The wedding is, however, usually accompanied by feasts and celebrations not less elaborate or costly than those of Hindus.

Several Hindu ceremonies at the marriages of lower class Muslims, still persist; e.g., the anointing of the bride and the bridegroom with oil and turmeric, and setting out earthen vessels which are meant to afford a dwelling-place for the spirits of ancestors. Another essential rite is the rubbing of the hands and feet of the bridegroom with Mehendi or red henna.

Funeral Rites.

Muslims bury their dead and the same word janazah is used for the  corpse, bier, and the funeral. When a man is on the point of death, a chapter of the Koran telling of the happiness awaiting the true believer in future life, is read and he is given a few drops of sharbat. After death, the body is carefully washed and wrapped in three or five clothes for a man or woman, respectively. Some camphor or other sweet-smelling stuff is placed on the bier. Women do not usually attend funerals and the friends and relations of the deceased walk behind the bier. To carry a bier is considered a very meritorious act and four of the relations, relieving each other in turn, bear it on their shoulders. Muslims allow no delay for carrying their dead to the place of internment and necessarily attend the funeral on foot. The funeral service is recited in a mosque or in some open space close to the grave yard. Usually, the family priest or the village Kazi recites the service. Coffins are used only by the rich. When the body has been lowered in the grave, each person takes up a clod and pronouncing over it a verse of the Koran places it gently over the corpse. When the grave is completely filled in, two stones are kept over it on either ends and two plants or branches of trees are planted. Then the fatiha i.e., the opening chapter of the Koran, is read. On the third, a feast is given in the morning and after that trays of flowers with a vessel containing scented oil are handed round and the guests pick flowers and dip them into the oil. They then proceed to the grave when the oil and flowers are poured over the grave. On the morning of the tenth, this offering of flowers and scented oil is repeated. Other feasts are given on the 40th day. These observances though not prescribed by the Koran have been retained either from pre-Islamic times or adopted in imitation of the Hindus.

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