Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/245

Rh sugar-loaf turban, whilst of the bride nothing could be recognised save the blinking eyes and the cry for "the bottle" from under her heap of trousseau. It was a Parsi marriage, and indicates "the march of progress" characteristic of a highly advanced people. But such "marriages" are not frequent among Parsis.

Perhaps the strangest form of this kind of "marriage" obtains amongst the Kudwá Kunbis of Gujarát, a wealthy and otherwise intelligent class in that province. The "season" for marriage among the Kudwás occurs only once in twelve years, when all marriages are settled after consulting Mátá, the tutelary goddess. Among these are adult marriages, child marriages, infant marriages, and marriages in the womb. The last-mentioned are highly amusing arrangements, in which the mothers expectant undergo the preliminaries. Many curious results attend these marital travesties; but the national instinct is equal to all extraordinary occasions. For instance, if the "married mothers" both give birth to girls or boys, these are looked upon as sisters or brothers, and the previous marriage annulled.