244 ^^^^ Lifting of the Bride.
tive. Most of these appear to fall within one or other of
the classes which we have been considering, that is to say,
they are either due to the belief in some kind of fertility
charm or are connected with taboo.
Thus, among fertility charms we may class the seating of
the bride on a bull's hide, which was an ancient Aryan rite
still prevailing among the Hindus of South India and the
Gypsies of Transylvania.^ Other Hindus, probably with
the same object, seat her on a mat made of sacred grass, or
of the leaves of some holy tree ; or she is placed on a stool
which is sometimes provided with a cushion made of sacred
grass, and the Manchu bride sits on a special red chair.^
In some parts of India a bullock-saddle or a plough-yoke is
selected as the seat of the bride, or she is made to step over
it, thus claiming a share in the invigorating life of the cattle
and field-crops.^ Or again, she stands in a basket such as
is used in garnering the grain on the threshing-floor, a
custom which is very common in Northern India, where a
line of baskets is often laid on the ground from the place
where she leaves her litter to the door of the house, and
stepping on these she makes her ceremonious entry into
her husband's household. It is a comical sight to watch the
bride performing this feat ; it is rather like the crossing
of one of our fords, where the current is strong and the
stepping-stones placed unpleasantly far apart. In order
to intensify the charm, these baskets are often half filled
with millet or some other grain.^ In some cases the
charm seems to be supposed to act vicariously, as when
the influence reaches the bride through her mother, who
' Folklore Congress Report, 273, 340 ; Boswell, Mamtal of Nellore District, 23 ; Hartland, Legend of Perseus, i., 124, note.
- Risley, Tribes and Castes 0/ Bengal, i., 449, 503 ; Crooke, Tribes and
Castes of the North- Westerti Provinces, iii., 141, 290 ; ii., 291 ; Bombay Gazet- teer, xvii., 205.; XX., 163 ; Folk-Lore, i., 491.
' Nelson, Manual of the Madura District, 82 ; Bombay Gazetteer, xx., 93 ; xxii., 14 ; Risley, op. cit., i., 508, 467 ; for the Manchus, Folk-Lore, i., 487.
- Bombay Gazetteer, xvii., 177 ; xviii., pt. i., 350, 442 ; xxiii., 95 ; Crooke,
op. cit. ii., 87.
