Note 47 — D.

Birth ceremonies. 5. When the birth pains begin they worship the ancestors with the sacrifice of a he-goat and a cock, and bathe the woman’s hands and feet or, in bad cases, her whole body with a decoction of the bark of the Rohina or fig tree. The child is born on the ground and the cord is cut by a Chamârin midwife, who buries it in the place the child was born, placing a bit of iron and a copper pice in the earthen fire pot. On the sixth day (chhathi) the Chamârin retires and the mother is bathed by her husband’s sister (nanad), who cleans the delivery-room (saur). The house earthen vessels are replaced, and one or two of the clansmen fed. On the twelfth day (barahi) the woman is again bathed and the house cleaned. On that day she cooks for the family and is pure. Her husband does not cohabit with her for six months after her confinement. They have the usual horror of touching menstrual blood or clothes defiled at child-birth. The only puberty ceremony is the ear-boring47 (kanchhedan), which is done at the age of eight or ten, after which the child must conform to caste rules about food.