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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
to girls (and indeed it is said in Kasûr that a girl after three boys is not unlucky at all') and evil is to be feared by both parents, but principally to the parent of corresponding sex. Moreover, a boy born after three girls is also apt to be himself unlucky.
The ceremonies used to avert the evil effects are often those employed when a child is born under an evil nakshatra, but L.Lachmi Narain (Gurdaspur) states that for a trikhal:
Five earthern pitchers filled with water containing gold images of Brahmâ, Vishnu, Mahesh, Indar and Rudar are worshipped, whereas in the case of a birth under the asterisms of Jesta, Mala, Ashlêkhân and Magân the leaves of 7 trees are used as described in para. 6 (4) above, and in the case of a child born in Khâtak:
Four images of Brahms, Indar, Rudar and Suraj are placed in 4 pitchers covered with red and white cloth and a little of the water sprinkled over the mother and child.
Lastly for a child born during an eclipse:Three gold images, one of the nakshatra of birth, another of Rahu and a third of the sun or moon (as the eclipse may have been) are worshipped.
Another name for the trikhal is trétar, (said to be derived from Sks. tri, three, and attar, enemy), and in Hoshiarpur the performance of a fire sacrifice with the aid of a Brahman after the sútak period is usual. Pala wood is burnt and sugar, etc., thrown on to it.
In Karnal and Rohtak a son born after three girls is usually called tålar (or named Telu Ram) and in Rohtak various ways of averting the evil he may bring are described. In one the parents sit on a plough and bathe from an earthen vessel containing 108 or 101 holes with water from the Ganges and 27 wells, 108 medicines (!) and milk. The water is passed through a sieve, but in some places a sieve is held to be unlucky. In another ceremony the parents bathe in water (passed through a sieve) drawn from 27 wells and in which stones from 27 places and leaves from 27 trees have been placed. This must be done 27 days after the birth. 27, 14 or 7 Brahmans are also feasted.
After these ceremonies a pair of snakes are made of a precious metal and given with 7 kinds of grain to the Dakaut Brahman.
[MARCH, 1902:
In another rite a horse-shoe, painted with vermilion figures, is burnt on the third or tenth day after the birth. It is lucky if this day falls on a Sunday.
See Panjab Notes and Queries, 1886, Vol. III. p. 458. And in Amritsar a girl so born is called bukhal or 'lucky' ohild. Cf, do. 1885, Vol. II. § 824, also § 136 (in Bombay).
They should be male trees (katha, andr, tat, etc.) nocording to the Jhêlam note..
The superstition appears then to take various forms and the rites practised are very diverse, those used to avoid other unlucky births. being often resorted to, though it appears that strictly speaking special rites should be performed. It is said to be confined in Nâhan to immigrants from Hoshiarpur.
It is possibly connected with the astrological doctrine of trines, but the powers of the first-born are not thereby explained.
Several correspondents mention that the belief and rites are described in the Shastras but no references are given. In 1885 a Sanskrit book called "Trikhal Shanti" was published at Lahore giving an account of the belief. The sage Pushkar asks Bhargat how a Trikhal can be propitiated. The reply is that it should be abandoned, as it will cause the death of its parents and maternal uncle within 7 months and also destroy itself.
The Eighth Child.
The eighth child (i. e., the one after the seventh ?) is very unlucky if a son as he is sure to cause his father's death." But in Karnål the 8th child is peculiarly dangerous to the mother.
The remedy is to pass a charkad or spinning wheel thrice round the mother and give it to the midwife. The charkhd must be in perfect order.
Phai Sira or 2} Head.'
Mr. Talbot writes that in Jhêlam a Trikhal is drilled with 2 holes- a local expression meaning 2 holes in one ear and 1 in the other, or 1 in each ear and 1 in the nose. In Mozaffargarh a dhai-sira, múla or sat-sira is a child whose head has not been properly shaped.
How is the use of the No. 2 to be explained? The information obtained requires to be still further supplemented and the various forms of belief explained.
H. A. Rosa, Superintendent of Ethnography, Panjab.
Simla, 29th July 1901.
The part which the maternal unole plays in marriage rites is well-known. He is in grave peril if his sister's child out its upper teeth first.
10 Connected apparently with the eight names of Rudra. Muir's Sanskrit Teets, Vol. IV. p. 388, et seqq. 11 Indian Notes and Queries, 1886, Vol. IV. § 94.
