252 MESSRS. D. HOOPER AND H. H. MANN ON 



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4. (Speaking of Sudaksina, the queen of Ayodhya before she gave birth to Raghu). 

 As if premeditating that her son will subsequently enjoy {i.e., rule over) the whole earth, 

 just as Indra rules over heaven by driving his chariot to all the quarters thereof, the 

 queen first felt a hankering for eating baked clay only, to the exclusion of all other well- 

 flavoured articles of food." 



The well-known Sanskrit commentator Mallinatha, who flourished in the 13th cen- 

 tury a.d., in his commentary on the Raghuvamsa, Canto III, verse 3, observes: " It is 

 well-known among men that pregnant women eat earth." 



Again, in the Agnipurana we read that the earth is taken as a purifier by religious 

 devotees : " O earth (clay), I take thee consecrated by Kasyapa ; O earth, take away 

 the sins and misdeeds that I have committed." 



In a Bengali play entitled " Tazzab Byapar " (recently performed at the Star Theatre, 

 Calcutta) which evidently has a strong historic basis, a street-hawker of baked clay- 

 cups figures among the dramatis persona. She puffs her wares in a song the purport 

 of which is that the cups of baked clay are well made, very crisp to eat, and, at the 

 same time, cheap, and that delicate ladies who are about to become mothers, should at 

 once buy them, for by eating them they will be blessed with sons. 



An early reference to the use of edible clay among the Arabs is quoted by LeClerc. 1 

 It is in connection with the life of Hajjaj, the notorious Lieutenant of the Umayyad 

 Khalif Abdul Malik, who reigned from 685 to 705 a.d. Hajjaj once acquired the habit 

 of eating clay. Wishing to rid himself of it he sought the advice of his doctor Theo- 

 dosus. "The remedy, " replied the doctor, " is the resolution of a man of your charac- 

 ter." Hajjaj discontinued eating clay from that moment. A long extract is given in a 

 later part of this paper describing the materials eaten, in Arabia, extracted from the work 

 of the physician El-Baitar. 



In giving an account of such tribes and castes throughout India as have been 

 noticed to be now addicted to the earth-eating habit, we shall arrange the summary of 

 our information according to the provinces from which the records have been received. 



(a) Assam — The habit of eating earth prevails extensively;; in Assam, and is not 

 confined to any one class. All tea garden coolies are, on occasions, addicted to the 

 habit, especially the so-called North-Westerns, who come chiefly from Bihar, those from 

 the Central Provinces (principally from near Sambalpur), Sylhet Bengalis, Bhuya-Ghat- 

 wals, Paharis, Butea Paharis. The best working classes unfortunately are affected by 

 it. Among all these, pregnant women are given to the custom, but it is not confined to 

 them. It is rare for men to eat earth, but a few do so, and these are usually of poor 

 development. 



Often young girls take to it, and the habit has been observed to be incidental to the 

 period of first menstruation. The habit may be continued after marriage, during the 

 early months of pregnancy. We might compare with this the occasional and peculiar 

 taste of English schoolgirls for eating slate pencils and coal. 



It is curious to note that the habit does not seem to exist to such an extent among 



l Histoire de la Medecine Arabe I, p. 83. 



