wenty and
ten groups. The Bisa or twenty group is of pure descent, or twenty
carat, as it were, while the Dasas are considered to have a certain
amount of alloy in their family pedigree. They are the offspring of
remarried widows, and perhaps occasionally of still more irregular
unions. Intermarriage sometimes takes place between the two groups,
and families in the Dasa group, by living a respectable life and
marrying well, improve their status, and perhaps ultimately get
back into the Bisa group. As the Dasas become more respectable they
will not admit to their communion newly remarried widows or couples
who have married within the prohibited degrees, or otherwise made a
_mesalliance_, and hence a third inferior group, called the Pacha or
five, is brought into existence to make room for these.

10. Exogamy and rules regulating marriage.

Most subcastes have an elaborate system of exogamy. They are
either divided into a large number of sections, or into a few
_gotras_, usually twelve, each of which is further split up into
subsections. Marriage can then be regulated by forbidding a man to
take a wife from the whole of his own section or from the subsection
of his mother, grandmothers and even greatgrandmothers. By this means
the union of persons within five or more degrees of relationship
either through males or females is avoided, and most Banias prohibit
intermarriage, at any rate nominally, up to five degrees. Such
practices as exchanging girls between families or marrying two
sisters are, as a rule, prohibited. The _gotras_ or main sections
appear to be frequently named after Brahman Rishis or saints, while
the subsections have names of a territorial or titular character.

11. Marriage customs.

There is generally no recognised custom of paying a bride- or
bridegroom-price, but one or two instances of its being done are given
in the subordinate articles. On the occasion of betrothal, among some
subcastes, the boy's father proceeds to the girl's house and presents
her with a _mala_ or necklace of gold or silver coins or coral, and a
_mundri_ or silver ring for the finger. The contract of betrothal is
made at the village temple and the caste-fellows sprinkle turmeric and
water over the parties. Before the wedding the ceremony of Benaiki is
performed; in this the bridegroom, riding on a horse, and the bride on
a decorated chair or litter, go round their villages and say farewell
to their friends and re