Note 97 — Chapter IV · WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS AND SAINTS.

Women whose children die in infancy give them opprobrious names such as Khacharo (filth), Ghelo (stupid), Natho, Uko, Ukardo, Bodho, Pujo, Adāvo, Mongho, Tulhi, Tutho, Kadavi, etc. in the belief that by so doing the life of the children is lengthened.97 The idea is almost Asiatic in extent. Among Musalmāns also such names are given; and even among the Persians and Arabs boys are given such names as Masriequ and Osaid—the Stolen and the Black. Sometimes parents arrange that their children be actually stolen; and some next of kin, generally the aunt, is made to commit the kindly felony. She afterwards returns the child for a certain amount in cash or clothes. The custom is as old as the scriptures, there being an allusion in the Korān to how the little Joseph was made to steal some garment of his aunt and was claimed as a forfeit by her. Speaking about Levi, the older brothers of Joseph say to the Egyptian soldiers, “If he hath stolen (the king’s goblet) verily the brother of his too did (formerly) steal.”