Note 19 — The Cycle of Life
Reading edition
The custom of building a fire beside the mother is practised among the Malay, Jakun and Mantri of the Peninsula. In India, the practice of keeping a fire beside the newborn infant, in order to protect it from evil beings, is widespread. See Tawney, Kathá Sarit Ságara, Vol. I, pp. 246, 305, note; Vol. II, p. 631 (Calcutta, 1880). According to Skeat (Malay Magic, p. 343), the Malay keep the fire burning forty-four days. The custom is called the “roasting of the mother.” The same custom is found in Cambodia (see Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. III, pp. 32, 164, 347; Vol. VIII, p. 32).