Marriage customs.(a) Arranging Marriage.—The intending bridegroom must obtain the consent of the girl’s father or guardian, as the case may be, and settle the “maal” (purchase price). He does not necessarily pay the whole at the time, but later, if he finds the girl suits him, and does not have any dealings with other men, he pays the difference; also sometimes after paying the full “maal” he may be ordered by a village council to pay an additional “maal” if he is a rich man.
As a rule the “maal” is paid to the girl’s father or guardians a year or so before the man marries her; she remaining meanwhile in her father’s house. If during this period of “engagement” the man comes to the conclusion that the girl is not suited to him, he can terminate the engagement, and receives back his cattle. No inter-marriage of blood relations is allowed under any circumstances, on the other hand, a man may marry all or any of his late father’s widows (except of course his own mother). In this connection it is interesting to note that, if a girl is tampered with and subsequently becomes ill, it is held to be conclusive proof that she was tampered with by a blood relation, and the blood relations who could possibly have been responsible for the offence are ordered to pay a heavy fine to the girl’s father.
(b) Misconduct of a Fiancée.—If a fiancée misconducts herself, the bridegroom elect receives back all the cattle that he may have paid to the girl’s relations, but, if, on the other hand, he still chooses to marry her, he will not receive his cattle back, but will exact a “fine maal” from the man with whom the girl misconducted herself. If he does not choose to marry the girl he receives back his cattle, and the father of the girl receives the “fine maal” from the delinquent. If the man still marries the girl under these circumstances, he slaughters one of the cattle paid as “fine maal” and invites the whole village to dinner; but if he does not marry her, the girl’s father does not follow this custom of slaying the bull.
The father or guardian who receives the marriage portion of the girl does not retain the whole to himself, but it is divided according to certain rules among the relations. A man having received a marriage portion on behalf of his daughter or ward, and the girl being still only “engaged,” may not dispose of any of it, until the girl is actually married, and has entered her husband’s house.
(c) Misconduct after Marriage.—If a man has dealings with a married woman, her husband shall take a “fine maal” from the adulterer, two or three head of cattle according to the adulterer’s wealth. If the wife go wrong, the husband may cast her off, and send her back to her people, and receive back from them the “maal” he originally paid, plus the issue of the said cattle since they left his hands. If the husband go wrong, the father or guardian of the girl he has wronged will take a fine “maal” from him; his wife cannot divorce him.
(d) Divorce.—If a man maltreats his wife she may complain to her father, who may free her by paying the husband back the original “maal,” plus its issue. If the father has no cattle, he will receive his daughter into his house, and when she marries, recompense the late husband.
If a man wishes to divorce his wife, and has good grounds for wishing to do so, he will return her to her father or guardian and receive back his original “maal,” plus the issue or not, according to the circumstances of the case.
If a man divorce his wife for misconduct, and there are children of the marriage, they will remain with him.
Misconduct.(a) If a man misconduct himself with a girl he will pay to her father or relations a “maal” such as he would have paid had he wished to marry the girl in the usual way, and he must marry her. If, however, the father of the girl is not willing to marry his daughter to the man, he will not exact a full “maal” from him, but only a “fine maal” according to the man’s wealth. If a girl misconduct herself, and dies from the effects, the man responsible will pay her father eight head of cattle.
If a man misconduct himself with an engaged girl, and marries her in the place of the original fiancée he shall pay to her father the same “maal” as was paid in the first instance by the other man, and if the girl die in his house, he shall have no claim to receive back all or any of his “maal” from her father or whoever received his “maal,” but in most cases the father will pay him a proportion as a favour.