ods. Thus the four septs above mentioned worship seven gods
and may not intermarry. But they may marry among other septs such as
the Dhurua, Pusam, Bania and Mawar who worship six gods. The Baigas do
not appear to have assimilated the further division into worshippers
of five, four, three and two gods which exist among the Gonds in some
localities, and the system is confined to the lower subtribes. The
meanings of the sept names have been forgotten and no instances of
totemism are known. And the Binjhwars and Bharotias, who are more or
less Hinduised, have now adopted territorial names for their septs,
as Lapheya from Lapha zamindari, Ghugharia from Ghughri village in
Mandla, and so on. The adoption of Gond names and septs appears to
indicate that Gonds were in former times freely admitted into the Baiga
tribe; and this continues to be the case at present among the lower
subtribes, so far that a Gond girl marrying a Baiga becomes a regular
member of the community. But the Binjhwars and Bharotias, who have
a somewhat higher status than the others, refuse to admit Gonds, and
are gradually adopting the strict rule of endogamy within the subtribe.

4. Marriage.

A Baiga must not take a wife from his own sept or from another one
worshipping the same number of gods. But he may marry within his
mother's sept, and in some localities the union of first cousins is
permitted. Marriage is adult and the proposal comes from the parents of
the bride, but in some places the girl is allowed to select a husband
for herself. A price varying from five to twenty rupees is usually
paid to the bride's parents, or in lieu of this the prospective
husband serves his father-in-law for a period of about two years,
the marriage being celebrated after the first year if his conduct
is satisfactory. Orphan boys who have no parents to arrange their
marriages for them often take service for a wife. Three ceremonies
should precede the marriage. The first, which may take place at
any time after the birth of both children, consists merely in the
arrangement for their betrothal. The second is only a ratification
of the first, feasts being provided by the boy's parents on both
occasions. While on the approach of the children to marriageable age
the final betrothal or _barokhi_ is held. The boy's father gives a
large feast at the house of the girl and the date of the wedding is
fixed. To ascertain whether the union will be auspicious, two grains
of ri