_ or priest in Gujarat who sends them a notice once in
every ten or twelve years, and in this year only marriages can be
performed. It is called _Singhast ki sal_ and is the year in which the
planet Guru (Jupiter) comes into conjunction with the constellation
Sinh (Leo). But the Karwas themselves think that there is a large
temple in Gujarat with a locked door to which there is no key. But
once in ten or twelve years the door unlocks of itself, and in that
year their marriages are celebrated. A certain day is fixed and all
the weddings are held on it together. On this occasion children from
infants in arms to ten or twelve years are married, and if a match
cannot be arranged for them they will have to wait another ten or
twelve years. A girl child who is born on the day fixed for weddings
may, however, be married twelve days afterwards, the twelfth night
being called Mando Rat, and on this occasion any other weddings which
may have been unavoidably postponed owing to a death or illness in
the families may also be completed. The rule affords a loophole of
escape for the victims of any such _contretemps_ and also insures
that every girl shall be married before she is fully twelve years
old. Rather than not marry their daughter in the _Singhast ki sal_
before she is twelve the parents will accept any bridegroom, even
though he be very poor or younger than the bride. This is the same year
in which the celebration of marriages is forbidden among the Hindus
generally. The other Kunbis have the general Hindu rule that weddings
are forbidden during the four months from the 11th Asarh Sudi (June)
to the 11th Kartik Sudi (October). This is the period of the rains,
when the crops are growing and the gods are said to go to sleep, and
it is observed more or less as a time of abstinence and fasting. The
Hindus should properly abstain from eating sugarcane, brinjals,
onions, garlic and other vegetables for the whole four months. On
the 12th of Kartik the marriage of Tulsi or the basil plant with the
Saligram or ammonite representing Vishnu is performed and all these
vegetables are offered to her and afterwards generally consumed. Two
days afterwards, beginning from the 14th of Kartik, comes the Diwali
festival. In Betul the bridal couple are seated in the centre of a
square made of four plough yokes, while a leaf of the pipal tree and
a piece of turmeric are tied by a string round both their wrists. The
untying of the string by the loc