4. Marriage and other customs.
Marriage is forbidden between persons so closely connected as to have a common ancestor in the third generation. In Bhandāra it is obligatory on all members of the caste, who know the bride or bridegroom, to ask him or her to dine. The marriage rite is that prevalent among the Hindustāni castes, of walking round the sacred post. Divorce and the marriage of widows are permitted. In Narsinghpur, when a bachelor marries a widow, he first goes through a mock ceremony by walking seven times round an earthen vessel filled with cakes; this rite being known as Langra Biyāh or the lame marriage. The caste burn their dead, placing the head to the north. On the day of Dasahra the Chhīpas worship their wooden stamps, first washing them and then making an offering to them of a cocoanut, flowers and an image consisting of a bottle-gourd standing on four sticks, which is considered to represent a goat. The Chhīpas rank with the lower artisan castes, from whose hands Brāhmans will not take water. Nevertheless some of them wear the sacred thread and place sect-marks on their foreheads.