Page:An Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India.djvu/91

Rh primitive taboo which appears constantly in folklore, where, as in the case of Lot's wife, the person who shows indiscreet curiosity by a look, is turned into a stone or ashes. Thirdly, it may represent a survival of a custom, to explain which a legend was invented, not uncommon among some primitive' races where the marriage capturing is done, not by the bridegroom but by the bride. Thus among the Garos, all proposals of marriage must come from the lady's side, and any infringement of the custom can only be atoned for by liberal presents of beer given to her relations by the friends of the bridegroom, "who pretends to be unwilling and runs away, but is caught and subjected to ablution, and then taken in spite of the resistance and counterfeited grief and lamentations of his parents to the bride's house." It may then reasonably be suspected that this custom of marriage prevailed among some branches of the Gond tribe, and that as they came more and more under Hindu influence, an unorthodox ritual prevailing in certain clans was explained by annexing the familiar marriage legend of Dulha Deo.