Note 148 — Appendix. VARIANTS AND ANALOGUES OF THE TALES IN THE SUPPLEMENTAL NIGHTS, VOL. III.

Pandit S. M. Natésa Sástrí, in “Indian Notes and Queries,” for March, 1887, says that women swallow large numbers of an insect called pillai-púchchi (son-insect: gryllas) in the hope of bearing sons; they will also drink the water squeezed from the loin-cloth of a sanyásí [devotee] after washing it for him!—Another correspondent in the same periodical, Pandit Putlíbái K. Raghunathjé, writes that Hindú women, for the purpose of having children, especially a son, observe the fourth lunar day of every dark fortnight as a fast, and break their fast only after seeing the moon, generally before 9 or 10 p.m. A dish of twenty-one small, marble-like balls of rice is prepared, in one of which is put some salt. The whole dish is then served up to the woman, and while eating it she should first lay her hands on the ball containing salt, as it is believed to be a positive sign that she will be blessed with a son. In that case she should give up eating the rest, but otherwise she should go on eating till she lays her hands on the salted ball. The Pandit adds, that the observance of this ball depends on the wish of the woman. She may observe it on only one, five, seven, eleven, or twenty-one lunar fourth days, or chaturthí. Should she altogether fail in picking out the salted ball first, she may be sure of remaining barren all her life long.