Indian Antiquary Vol 38

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 53

FEBRUARY, 1903.)
MISCELLANEA.
MISCELLANEA. NOTES ON CUSTOM3 AND BELIEFS IN SPITI. I
Divorce BY H. CALVERT, I.O.S.
A son-in-law who has been adoptod cannot ( Communicated by H. A. Roso.)
be divorced by his wife as in Ladakh. SPITI is a portion of the Kulla Subdivision of the Kangrå District of the Panjab on the Tibetan There is no custom in Spiti of a widow divorcborder. The following notes were made by ing laerself from her dead husband. Mr. Calvert during a tour in 1904.
Unfaithfulness and refusal to cohabit are
reasons for divorce, but incompatibility of Customs connected with the Social Relations.
temper is not Betrothal..
In cases of divorce both parties go to the Nono. Betrotbal is usually proceded by verbal in.
1 It the woman is in fault, her jewels and perrik quiries through a relative or friend as to whether
(head ornament) and a pony are given to the the father of the girl is agreeable, who usually
husband. If the man is in fault, a field is given takes with him a needle as an emblem of the
to the woman for her maintenance, but she can woll-being of the family making the enquiry."
only retain it so long as she does not marry If the girl's father intimates his acceptance again. The man may re-marry. of the proposal, the boy's father takes some chang ( barley brew) and khata (cloth) to him A wife's adultery is usually condoned by the If the girl's father drinks the chang, the betrotbal present of a few rupees to the injured husband. is complete.
A husband's anfaithfulness usually only results
in a quarrel. A single lapse is not ground for A limis then consulted as to an auspicious a divoroe, and only cohabitation with his pareday for the wedding, which may be six months
mour can give his wife right to a divorce. or a year later. The boy's father has already referred to the lama to ascertain if the marriage
Pregnancy is likely to be fortanate before he made proposals for the betrothal.
A married woman wears white breechos till
she is pregnant, when she wears red or black. 11, after betrothal and before marriage, the Unmarried girls wear white breeches up to girl prefers another man, or is married by her twelve and afterwards red or black. parents to another man, the first fiancé is given a pony or & eum of money as compensation.
Naming. If a young boy be left an orphan, his relatives The name of a child is selected by a lama select a grown-up woman as his wife, to look after reference to the Sacred Books, who receives after him and his property as foster-mother as for the service a thdta, or piece of cloth, such as well as wife. The boy cannot on attaining his is given by visitors to & monastery. majority marry a second wife.
When naming the child, the lima placos Marriage.
a little bit of cloth upon it, or, if the child be not Marriage within the got is prohibited, but
present, sends the cloth to its parents. interchange of sisters is allowed and cousins
In every monastery kesar, or green, water maysrry.
is kept; i.o., water in which kisar, saffron, has A man inay marry a woman of an inferior got, been placed. And sometimes, but not always, but a woman must, if possible, marry a man of
when daming a child, the lama sprinkles it with superior got.
kesar water,
1 In Tibetan, sPiti..
A needle, sent by ons relativo or friend to another by poople who cannot write, is a sign of the woll-boing of the reader.