, 1888-10-19
CUTTING DOWN The COST.
Laws to Limit wedding Expenses in In
dia@A Novel Reform.

Laws to Limit Wedding Expenses in In
dia-A Novel Reform.
A novel sort of reform in the matter of
marriage has been instituted by the gov
eminent in the states of R~ajputana, in
India, the object being as stated by Col.
O. M. K. Walter, agent to the governor
general, in a recent report to the Eng
fish authorities, he suppression of in
fanticide among Rajputs." The most
immediate inference is that parents hest
tate to raise children on account of the
trouble of getting them married off, but
it may be that Col. Walker intends to in
innate that the existing marriage GUS
toms lead to an ~infrequency of matri-
mony and to other events conducive to
the violent putting away of infants. AT
any rate, the fact seems to nave been
that marriage among Rajputs of any
social standing has heretofore been a very
serious financial question, both for the
would be bridegroom and for the pa
rents Of the prospective bride, and the
reforms are in the direction of fixing an
arbitrary limit beyond which the ex-
penditure at a wedding shall not 20.
The first of these new rules, under
which hereafter two Rajput hearts will
be made to beat as one, fixes the maxi
mum amount to be expended at mar
r1ages at one-quarter of the annual in
come OF a Thakur, or nobleman, whose
income is 90, 900 rupees or over; one
third of incomes between 1000 and
10, 900 rupees; one-half of incomes
between 10, 900 and 1000 rupees, and
two-thirds of all incomes below 1000
rupees. Rajputs with no regular income
at all are not to be allowed to spend over
100 rupees at a wedding. 1t is explained
that the percentage of expenditure is
allowed to increase as the total income
decreases because smaller sums could not
secure the proper performance of the
marriage ceremonies.
The second rule does away with all ex-
penditure or occasions of betrothal, and
provides that at such times the parties or
their representatives shal simply drink a
decoction of opium water together and
present betel leaves, and the written re-
cord of the engagement of marriage shall
then be signed. This tomfoolery does
away with the previously necessary pre-
sentation TO the father of the coming
bridegroom by the father Of the bride
expectant of an elephant, horses, camels,
jewelry, and other little trifes to a value
rarely less, among well-to-do Thakurs,
than 10, 900 rupees
The third rule is for the benefit of the
family of the bride also, and limits the
amount to be expended as "Tyag,"
largesse to the Charuns, Bhats, Dholis,
and others, at per cent. of the whole
income where that exceeds 1, 900 rupees,
4 10 per cent. where the income is be-
tween 1000 and 500 rupees, and nothing
at all for Thakurs with less than 500
rupees income. 1t is also provided that
Els, ILL., r. sxT---y ---L l. =
cluded in the amount fixed under the
first rule as the limit of expenditure
upon the wedding. This does away with
what has heretofore been frequently the
most expensive thing about a Rajput
marriage. Numerous cases are cited
where the ''Tyag'' alone on the occasion
of the marriage of a daughter or a sister
has been very much more than the whole
income of the Thakur for the year. An
other important change made by the
new rules provides that only Charms,
Bhats and similar personages from the
state in which the marriage is celebrated
shall be allowed to be present at the cere-
mony, and of these the number shall be
regulated by the standing committee in
each state, whose duty it is oversee the
enforcement of the new regulations.
At the end comes a rule, which prob
ably affects or begins to affect a more
important reform thar all the rest put
together, 1t prohibits the marriage of a
man under 10 or a girl under IA, and Is
the first attempt made in the Rajputana
to stop the custom of early marriages, by
which a young maid is often doomed to
be a widow all her life ere yet she has
ever been a wife. The rule is said to
have been proposed by the chief of
Bundi, who has been a great upholder of
the ancient customs, and is regarded as
an important evidence of the growth of
modern ideas in India.
Another innovation, incorporated as
an after thought into the new rules,
limits the expenditure at funeral feasts,
and, it is said, will be an immense relief
to the Rajputs.-New York Sun.