208 
G. Singh —Superstitions connected with child birth. [No. 3, 
room of confinement. If there were it should be closed. For surely 
through it witches might enter, because it is from its nature unclean. 
X. A lamp should be lit during night, and it should not be put out 
in the morning, but allowed to burn out. Putting a light out means 
extinguishing the light of good fortune. A son is called by the natives 
“ Light of the house” (ghar ka diwa), for without him it would be all dark, 
the symbol of unhappiness. 
XI. The mother and the baby must not on any account come out 
of the room for thirteen days. On the thirteenth day after birth, they 
are to come out of the room in the following manner. The mother takes 
a bath, and the old clothes worn by her are given away to the midwife 
employed, who divides them sometimes with the nain or barber woman. 
This nain, who is the customary maid-servant of the house, brings, 
in a small earthen pot (thikra), cow urine, green grass, a nut (supara), 
and the “ naharna” or instrument for cutting nails. After the mother 
has finished her toilet (which is a much simpler process than the 
toilet of European ladies) the ‘ nain’ sprinkles with green grass the 
cow urine on her person. Incense (dhup) is burnt and nails are cut by 
tbe barber woman, which must not be cut previous to this day. The 
mother must put on the barber’s (nai’s),—not the barber woman’s but her 
husband’s—slippers. What does it mean ? Perhaps she, coming out in the 
shoes of a servant, may be understood by the witches and other such beings 
not to be the lady of the house to whom they might cause any mischief; 
except this I cannot conjecture any other reason. Then the mother takes 
the child in her arms, and walks forth out of the room. The barber woman 
throws some oil on the door side and the water woman (jhiwari, or any 
other) stands with a pot full of water and green grass; for these they are 
both duly paid according to the means of the lady. In the outer room 
the Bidh Mata (h>b° the “ Vidhata Mata” (f^TcTTfTT<TT) of the learned, 
the goddess of generation is worshipped. The Brahmans have no hand 
in this worship. The women form an idol of cow-dung (gobar), cover it 
with a red cloth and make their offerings to it, consisting of the food 
cooked for giving a feast on the occasion. It is to be observed that this 
is certainly a relic of the manners of those times when primitive Aryans 
worshipped their gods without the intervention of the priestly caste. Now, 
the Hindu gods would scarcely listen to prayers of the common folk, unless 
their cause were pleaded by the Brahmans. Then drums are beaten, 
Brahmans fed and a feast given to all the relatives present, and the mem- 
bers of the household congratulated. That idol is kept in the house till one 
and a quarter month after the day of birth and then deposited near the well. 
This completes virtually all that is necessary for the proper care 
to be taken in the period of confinement which, however, lasts for forty days* 
