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64 that many slave-girls on the death of their masters, supported by the wholesale perjury so generally available in the East, claimed estates on the strength of a pretended chadar dálna marriage. This was the case with the mother of Mahárájá Dhulíp Singh, who was acknowledged as successor to the throne of Lahore as the result of a palace intrigue, although his mother was a mere slave-girl.

The right of the widow to re-marry at her own choice, when she was not claimed by her late husband's brother, was everywhere admitted, and there are instances of women making even third marriages, known as threwa.

With regard to the succession of sons there were two customs, one known as chadarband, confined to the Sikhs of the Mánjha, and the other bhaiband, practised by the Málwá Sikhs. The first divided the property among the mothers in equal shares; the second in equal shares among the sons. For example, supposing a man left two widows, one of whom had one son and the other three; by chadarband the single son of the first widow would take half the estate and his three half-brothers would each take a sixth. By bhaiband the four sons would each receive a quarter.

This irregular practice in marriage is not followed by the higher castes, Bráhmans and Khattrís, who may have embraced Sikhism. They follow the old Hindu ritual, but even then are regarded as outcasts by the orthodox community who will not give them a