lama. Those belonging to the service of
the latter were wont in the month of February to parade the streets
in a state of utter nudity. When a bachelor wished to marry a widow
he was first united to a swallow-wort plant, and this was immediately
dug up and transplanted, and withering away left him at liberty to
marry the widow. If a lady survived the sorrow caused by the death
of two or three husbands she could not again enter the holy state
unless she consented to be married with a fowl under her armpit;
the unfortunate bird being afterwards killed to appease the manes of
her former consorts.

Manihar

_Manihar._ [194]--A small caste of pedlars and hawkers. In northern
India the Manihars are makers of glass bangles, and correspond to the
Kachera caste of the Central Provinces. Mr. Nesfield remarks [195]
that the special industry of the Manihars of the United Provinces is
the making of glass bangles or bracelets. These are an indispensable
adjunct to the domestic life of the Hindu woman; for the glass bangle
is not worn for personal ornament, but as the badge of the matrimonial
state, like the wedding-ring in Europe. But in the Central Provinces
glass bangles are made by the Kacheras and the Muhammadan Turkaris
or Sisgars, and the Manihars are petty hawkers of stationery and
articles for the toilet, such as miniature looking-glasses, boxes,
stockings, needles and thread, spangles, and imitation jewellery; and
Hindu Jogis and others who take to this occupation are accustomed to
give their caste as Manihar. In 1911 nearly 700 persons belonging to
the caste were returned from the northern Districts of the Central
Provinces. The Manihars are nominally Muhammadans, but they retain
many Hindu customs. At their weddings they erect a marriage-tent,
anoint the couple with oil and turmeric and make them wear a _kankan_
or wrist-band, to which is attached a small purse containing a little
mustard-seed and a silver ring. The mustard is intended to scare away
the evil spirits. When the marriage procession reaches the bride's
village it is met by her people, one of whom holds a bamboo in his
hands and bars the advance of the procession. The bridegroom's father
thereupon makes a present of a rupee to the village _panchayat_,
and his people are allowed to proceed. When the bridegroom reaches
the bride's house he finds her younger sister carrying a _kalas_
or pot of water on her head; he drops a rupee into it and enters the
house.