Note 14 — Chapter XIV · BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD CEREMONIES

The woman who is to be secluded, whether she be Tarthar or Teivali, rubs ashes on her head and face (pûthi adipimi, ashes we rub), and comes out of the ordinary hut in which she has been living since the delivery. She holds over her head a branch of the ‘Nilgiri holly,’14 which has spreading leaves so that it resembles an umbrella; this leafy umbrella is called tòrikwadr, and the act is called tòrikwadr patipimi, “we hold the umbrella.” The head is also covered with the putkuli. From the moment she leaves the hut the woman is very careful to keep her face turned away from the sun, not on account of its noxious influence, but in order to avoid the star or other body called Keirt, which is supposed to be near the sun. The child is carried in front of the mother by another woman, who also holds a tòrikwadr to shelter the infant from the evil influence of Keirt. Among the Tartharol a small artificial dairy is made, exactly as in the urvatpimi ceremony, and four reeds are cut to represent dairy vessels. As the woman walks towards the place where the pülpali has been erected, another woman lays on the ground before her a leaf of kakud on which she puts some threads taken from a madtuni—i.e., the garment worn by the wursol. These threads are called tunikar,15 and they are taken up by the mother and put in the string round her waist on the right side.16 Water is then poured by the husband from the imitation patatpun over the hind quarters (pòtha) of a calf, so that it falls into the ertatpun just as in the urvatpimi ceremony. Before the woman drinks this water, three drops of it are put into the mouth of the child and a four-anna piece (panm) into its hand. The mother then drinks three times and bows down at the threshold of the imitation dairy, after which she goes into the seclusion-hut. During the whole of the proceedings she is careful not to turn her face towards the sun.