

PRACTICES TO OBTAIN CHILDREN 69 



relates the birth of the Virgin Mary) is written out in 

 its whole interminable length with saffron in a copper 

 basin ; boiling water is poured upon the writing ; and 

 the woman in need drinks a part of the water thus 

 consecrated, and washes her face, breast and womb 

 with the remainder. 1 At Bombay a barren woman 

 would cut off the end of the robe of a woman who has 

 borne at least one child, when it is hung up to dry ; or 

 would steal a newborn infant's shirt, steep one end of it 

 in water, drink the water and destroy the shirt. The 

 child to whom the clothing belonged would then die 

 and be born again from the womb of the woman 

 performing the ceremony. 2 Other women in India 

 drink the water squeezed from the loincloth of a 

 sanydsi, or devotee, after washing it for him. 3 We can 

 only surmise that this practice is followed in the hope of 

 obtaining the benefit experienced by the Princess 

 Chand Rawati and other heroines of Indian literature 

 and folklore. 4 



Be this how it may, there is a group of practices to 

 which reference must be made, and which fully match 

 the foregoing in nastiness. Unfortunately the dislike 



1 Ploss, Weib y i. 435, citing Sandreczki. 



2 Mel. vi. 109, quoting Rehatsek mjourn. Anthrop. Soc. Bombay. 



3 Panjab (Indian) N. and Q. iv. 107 (par. 415). Even more 

 disgusting is the rite described by the Abbe Dubois as practised at 

 a temple famous all over Mysore (Dubois, 60 1). In Egypt in the 

 seventeenth century childless women resorted to certain naked 

 ascetics to kiss their sexual organs (Stoll, 653, quoting Thevenot). 

 The same is said to be still done in India. 



4 See Sir R. C. Temple, F. L. Journ. iv. 304 ; De Gubernatis, 

 Zool. Myth. ii. 331; Panjab N. and Q. ii. 19 (par. 122); Hardy, 

 Manual of Buddhism^ 251. The incident of conception by semen 

 imbibed through the mouth or nose may in fact be said to be some- 

 what of a favourite in Indian stories. 



