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MARCH, 1902.]
Vow, in which case sacrifice of the child was common in India. The Mairs used to sacrifice a first-born son to Matâ, the small-pox goddess, while Muhammadans throughout Northern India believe that first-born children can stop excessive rain by certain rites. On the other hand a firstborn son will in Telingana attract lightning."
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Twins, as is well known, are peculiarly uncanny, but in Dahomey a boy born after twins has a special name (dosu), according to Burton: Mission to Gelele, King of Dahome, Vol. I. p. 99, Memorial Edition.
But many remarkable ideas cluster round the third conception or round a child of one sex born after three children of the other sex. Thus in the South-West Panjab on the borders of Sindh the former superstition prevails and its results are thus described: "Trikhal is the third conception after two births (without regard to the sexes of the former children). It is a Jatki word, literally meaning 'third' and implies contempt. This conception is considered unlucky among Hindus, especially in Jâmpar. Every effort is made to effect abortion, and many cases of abortion take place. It is suspected that the third child is killed at birth if the attempts to cause the abortion have failed. Dread of the law prevents any attempt to kill the child when it has survived its birth."
The Trikhal.
This, however, appears to be a local variant, as the other superstition is far ore prevalent and its effects and the measures taken to avert them are thus described by an intelligent Panjab official:"A child of one sex born after three children of the other sex is called, in Panjabi, Trikhal, as, for example, a boy born after three girls. Such a child is considered unlucky, and its birth portends
(1) the death of a parent;
(2) loss of wealth by the parents; (3) the taking fire of the house in which the child was born; or
(4) some other calamity, such as lightning or snake-bite.
If this child grows up without the parents suffering any injury, and is taller than the parents, they are benefited instead of injured by the birth, i. e, their lives are prolonged, or if poor they
2 Moore's Hindu Infanticide, pp. 108-9. Sherring: Hindu Tribes and Castes, Vol III. p. 68.
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become rich and are protected against all misfortunes. Many Hindus believe that the children born after a Trikhal cannot live long.
birth of such a child to avert the evil effects The following remedies are adopted at the of birth:
(1) The father pours a quantity of ght down the gutter of the roof of the room in which the child was born.
(2) A brass tray is broken in the centre and the child passed through the hole.
(3) A horse-shoe is painted with sandúr (red
oxide of mercury) and scented with gugal (a drug) and attached to the bed of the mother. The shoe is re-painted with sandúr and scented every Tuesday.
(4) If the third day after the birth be a Sunday
a ceremony known as Trikhal Shanti (propitiation of the Trikhal) is performed. Green leaves from seven trees are collected and put in an earthen pitcher with 101 holes in its bottom. Another pitcher is filled with water taken from seven wells. The mother, with her child, sits under the drain of the roof of the house in which the child was born. A Pandit recites to her a katha from the Trikhal Shant Shastra while a female relative of the mother holds a sieve over her head. The pitcher containing the green leaves is placed on the sieve, and the father pours the water of the seven wells down the drain of the roof, so that the water passing through the pitcher and the sieve may trickle slowly over the mother's head.
(5) If the charm, whose figure is given below, be set in gold and tied to the neck of the mother all evil is avoided.
Tért jan men yd uz jan men méré kharné kôjagdh dé.. yd mert sunnat yd meri sunnat yd méri sunnat ya mért sunnat yd mért sunnat ya mé-1 sunnat
ya mért sunnat yd mért sunnat ya meri sunnat
The belief relates chiefly to the first Trikhal born in the family: it applies to boys more than
• Panjab Notes and Queries, 1883, Vol. I. pp. 116 and 488. North Indian N. &Q. 1891, Vol. I. p. 378.
