1 Post-natal rites.
2 751
3 on tbe former day. In Hawalpindi the mother bathes on the third,
4 fifth or seventh day, and cMri (baked bread, sugar, and is then
5 distributed among the females of the brotherhood. In the evening
6 of the same day she pats the child in a winnowing basket and takes
7 it outside the village gate — accompanied by the midwife.
8 Fourth day. — As a rule the mother bathes on the third day, or
9 on one bearing an odd number after it, but in the Dasiiya tahsil of
10 Hoshiarpur she is bathed on the fourth, seventh, thirteenth, twentv-
11 first, thirtieth, and forty-eighth days.
12 tifth day. — Excluding’ the bathing already mentioned, the rites
13 of the fifth day are confined to Jhelum, in which district VaQ paaj/cdn
14 or fifth-day observance simply consists in a bath, and Hoshiarpur In
15 the latter district a foster-brother is made for the child out of cow-dung,
16 and grain, sweets and bread placed beneath it. A red cloth is then
17 thrown over it. All these things are the midwife’s perquisite. The
18 rite is performed both for a girl and a boy. The motlier also bathes
19 on this occasion, and her head is washed with milk and cow’s urine.
20 Elsewhere in this same district the mother is bathed o:i the fifth or
21 seventh day, and the nain plaits her hair Then she is brought out
22 into the courtyard, wearing the nain^s dopatti or shawl. The yard
23 is previously plastered with cow-dung, and in it the mother is seated
24 on a stool, and given cow’s urine and Ganges water to drink. IShe
25 then re-enters the room in the house, which has in the meanwhile been
26 re-plastered with cow-dung. Inside she sits by a wall, close to wdhch
27 is placed some grain on which a lamp is lit. Each of the kinswomen
28 then brings some grain and money and puts them by the lamp.
29 Then rice, loaves and mash are distributed among the brotherhood,
30 the grain and money brought being divided by the midwife and
31 the naiu.
32 Sixth day. — The ceremony called the chhati was doubtless origi-
33 nally, as the name implies, observed on the sixth day, but it is now
34 extinct (in Sirmur), or else held on the sixth or any subsequent date. ^
35 Only in Alandi must the rite called chhati gontar ^ actually be held on
36 the sixth day.
37 Elsewhere the chhati is known as the dhamdrii and is held only
38 in cases when the child was a boy.
39 In Gujraiiwala the chhati is described as being observed on th- fifth day, ou which
40 day the child is named.
41 ^ This resembles the tirphalla. The house is swept, as before, and Ganpali again
42 worshipped. Then images of a cow, a calf, and a herdsman are made of brass. These are
43 known as dddd loachha, and are placed near the goddess’ idol. Fanchgahh is given to the
44 mother. The females of the brotherliocd assemble and sing songs. 'I'hey are legaled ou
45 moist grain, and red thread is then sent to the mother’s parents, a custom called dart
46 dena, or ‘ giving the thread.’ In return t ey send money and sweetmeats. In Maud
47 is also performed the third or last gontar. On the evening preceding the day fixed fori
48 this nie, the house is sw^ept. All the Jiear kliiswomtu are invited, and they spend the
49 night in singing, while the priest makes the mother w.rship Gaupati. Alms are also
50 given to avert evil planetary influencee. On the following day the priest performs a
51 hatvan {horn), in much the usual way. The mother and all the members of her family
52 ar»' then purified, and finally a hiydhi of cow-dung is made, and fhc mother instructed
53 to clean her teeth with twigs of a fragrant plant. These twigs are struck in tlie hiydhi
54 and preserved as long as tbe child lives, being worshipped at its birthdays. The hiydhi.
55 with the twigs struck in it, must, at this gontar, be set afloat ou a river or stream.