1 The first tons^ire. 755
2 her lap. Two copper coins, the barber’s perquisite, are also placed beneath
3 her feet. The barber now applies the cow’s urine to the child's lips, with
4 the duhh grass, and then gives it to the mother, who is thus purified, as
5 is the child. If the latter is a b(ty the parents place a ruj^ee in the cup,
6 but if it is a girl annas two or four suffice. Piujiri ’<k\n\ lumps of
7 parched wheat arc distributed to the brotherhood, and the females l>e-
8 longing to it place grain before tl.c image of iddh-mata. This grain is
9 divided between the barber and ihe midwife. The mother is given
10 strengthening food after this. The eeremonv ^ api>ear8 to be usuallv
11 observed on the thirteenth da^', but this is not always the case.
12 In Montgomery the chola also takes place on the thirteenth day,
13 but if the boy was born on one of the six. unlucky asterisms, the
14 observance is postponed till the twenty-seventh. In (jujrHnwala, how-
15 ever, the chola is held as early as the first day, i.t, immediately after
16 birth, or on any day till the thirteenth. Speaking generally, the customs
17 connected with the rite are social ralher than religious, but in lloshiarpur
18 the family god’s temple or some Muhammadan saint’s shrine is usually
19 visited.
20 Chhuchalc. — In Kohtak the mother's parents send her clothes and
21 ornaments for herself, the child, and her husband, 'fhis prt^sent is
22 called chtinchakf and it is sent in response to the hadhdi (vide supra),
23 l^estivals. — The Lohri following a birth is observ'ed with sj^ecial
24 pomp, copper coins and cowries being given away to the jioor.
25 So, too, the next Diwali is celebrated by a grander illumination
26 than usual, sweets being also distributed among the brotherhood.
27 Tonsure. — The first tonsure of a child is an im]X)rtant rite, but
28 it is known by various names and cclebrattHl in viu'ious ways by different,
29 castes, ^ and in difl’ercnt localities. In the bouth-w’est it is known
30 as i\\Q jhand ^ and elsewhere as the mundan or hhaddan.^ If the mother
31 has made a vow prior to the birth of her child to observe the rite
32 at a certain shrine or temple, it is duly cariied out there ; otherwise it
33 may be done at home.^ An auspicious hour should be fixed by a Jlrah-
34 man, or the rite should be performed on the mHi riage of a near kinsman,
35 or on the Baisdkhi or Dasehra. In lloshiarpur ® a boy’s ears are bored
36 on this occasion, and some j)eople smear his forehead with goat’s blood.
37 In Ludhiana the rite is, like the birth observances, described as the
38 mundan sanskdr, and it is unlucky to shave a child’s head until it has
39 ' The accouuts of the c7io/(i lilc are very eoufused, becauee cAoia literally uioaus a
40 cloak, and the child is dressed in that gnrniont on other occasions, cn the fifth,
41 seventh, or ninth d^.Y ; wben tie niotliei is bntlied the child is drcs8<d in a yellow chola.
42 And a boy, born after several successive fen alc cbildrcn, is dressed in one n.ade of cloth,
43 which must he given by a friend (Ferozepur), But in Rawalpindi the cloth is got from
44 a friend or the mother’s relatives nnder any oircuinstauccs.
45 » The Hindu Bdnias of IMahr/ij in Ferozepur have a si>ecial time for the rite vie.,
46 tho light halves of Asanj and Chet, and a lock of the hair is then left uncut.
47 ^ Jhatitf, lit. IdnuffO, or down, is tlie hair on (he head of a ncw-boiu child.
48 i Mundan =■ ^unna, to shave. Jihaddan, s.in = shaving.
49 * Some aecthms have fixed places for the observance of the rite, c.p. the Kluanna
50 Khatrfs observe it at Bip^lpnr. In Rdwalpindi, most of the Khatrfs observe it at homo,
51 but not 80 the .Taggi and Awal sections, and some fam'lics observe it at .\atas in the lbii.>a-
52 kbi, or at the .Togi shrine at Ivot Sarang.
53 6 But in tlr s district a distinction appears to be drawn between the cutting off of the
54 jhan^, which is removed at a tank or under ajand tree, befoTO the child is three (though
55 0; ly a few families observe this rite), and tho regular lhaddan, which is peiformoil at a
56 (hdkurdwdra or gurJu'dr a between three and live yeais of ago, and i» often celebratcvl with
57 (M'nsidernhlo pomp.