[5]
The young chief of Balamgarh mustered a _cortege_ of sixty elephants
and about ten thousand men to attend him out in the 'istikbal', to
meet and welcome his guests. The bridegroom's party had to expend
about six hundred thousand rupees in this visit alone. They scattered
copper money all along the road from their homes to within seven
miles of Balamgarh. From this point to the gate of the fort they had
to scatter silver, and from this gate to the door of the palace they
scattered gold and jewels of all kinds. The son of the Patiala chief,
a lad of about ten years of age, sat upon his elephant with a bag
containing six hundred gold mohurs of two guineas each, mixed up with
an infinite variety of gold earrings, pearls, and precious stones,
which he scattered in handfuls among the crowd. The scattering of the
copper and silver had been left to inferior hands. The costs of the
family of the bride are always much greater than that of the
bridegroom; they are obliged to entertain at their own expense all
the bridegroom's guests as well as their own, as long as they remain;
and over and above this, on the present occasion, the Raja gave a
rupee to every person that came, invited or uninvited.
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