101 S. G. Siu^^h— BirtJi- Sup prsfU ions in tlie Vanjih. [MiT, 



2. Mcmoranchim on tlie Superstitions connected with hirth, and precautions 

 taken and rites performed on the occasion of the hirth of a child among 

 the Jats of Hushydrpur, in the Panjdb. — By Sirdar Gurdial Singh, 

 C. S. Communicated hy D. Ibbetson, C. S. 



(Abstract.) 

 In this paper the author gives an account of various rites and ceremo- 

 nies which a woman of the tribe of Jats considers necessary to be perform- 

 ed for the safety or happiness of her child both before and after its birth. 

 If abortion has ever ocl?hrred, or if there is any fear of its occurring, she is 

 obliged to carry about with her either a piece of w^ood taken from a scaffold 

 on which some convict has been hanged, or a pice which has been thrown 

 over the coffin of an old man or woman, or a piece of tiger's flesh, or a 

 tiger's claw. The ceremonies performed on the birth of a child are de- 

 scribed at some length, and the precautions taken to ensure a woman from 

 all kinds of bad luck and from the malice of witches during her confine- 

 ment are also mentioned. Slie must keep a fire constantly burning in her 

 room ; grain, an emblem of good luck, has to be kept near the bed ; water, 

 being the purifier, should also be in the room as witches are believed to 

 fitack the unclean. For the same reason there should be no drain in the 

 house as witches would enter through it, a drain being in the very nature 

 ef things unclean. As witches are said to take the disguise of cats, no cat 

 is allowed in the house, and the most unlucky dream the woman could have 

 is that in which a cat appears. The house should not be swept as this 

 might have the effect of sweeping all the luck out of it. 



The author then refers to the belief this people have in the influence 

 of the evil eye and mentions the measures they adopt to counteract its 

 effect, especially in the case of children. If a baby refuses to take its 

 nourishment, the first thought of the mother is that it is under the 

 influence of the evil eye and various tests are described which are used 

 to discover whether this surmise is correct. Tlie next step the mother takes 

 ■when her suspicions are confirmed is to discover who the person was whose 

 eye fell on the child, and she generally suspects the person who looked at 

 the child longest and who praised him the most. Hence friendly visitors 

 make it a rule not to praise a child much. When next the suspected visitor 

 calls, the child is hidden from his eye, and some earth from under his foot- 

 steps is quietly taken and thrown into the fire. If the person with the 

 evil eye cannot be discovered, recourse is had to the " cunning man" {sydna) 

 who generally gives some charmed water, with which the baby and the 

 mother are to be washed, or anything else he may think fit to administer. 



In conclusion, the author remarks : — " As to the extent to which 

 such beliefs prevail, there are very few men who really believe in them, but 

 there arc very few women who do not believe in such things, as all 



