Rulers of India - Ranjit Singh

Griffin, Lepel Sir; Hunter, William Wils · 1892 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

164 RANGIT SINGH

2that many slave-girls on the death of their masters,

3supported by the wholesale perjury so generally avail-

4able in the East, claimed estates on the strength of

5a pretended chadur ddlna marriage. This was the

6case with the mother of Mahér4jé Dhulip Singh, who

7was acknowledged as successor to the throne of

8Lahore as the result of a palace intrigue, although his

9mother was a mere slave-girl.

10The right of the widow to re-marry at her own

11choice, when she was not claimed by her late husband’s

12brother, was everywhere admitted, and there are in-

13stances of women making even third marriages, known

14as threwa.

15With regard to the succession of sons there were

16two customs, one known as chadarband, confined to

17the Sikhs of the Manjha, and the other bhuiband,

18practised by the Malwa Sikhs. The first divided the

19property among the mothers in equal shares; the

20second in equa] shares among the sons. For example,

21supposing a man left two widows, one of whom had

22one son and the other three; by chadarbund the

23single son of the first widow would take half the

24estate and his three half-brothers would each take a

25sixth. By bhaiband the four sons would each receive

26a quarter.

27This irregular practice in marriage is not followed

28by the higher castes, Brahmans and Khattris, who may

29have embraced Sikhism. They follow the old Hindu

30ritual, but even then are regarded as outcasts by the

31orthodox community who will not give them a