Indian Antiquary Vol 46

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 447

THE FOLKLORE OF GUJARAT
99
Others hold that a slight blow on the Others daub their foreheads with the shoulder of a pregnant woman by a childless blood emitted by a woman in menses, woman satisfies the desire of the latter for There are some who pour water in a circle a child,
at the village gate on a Sunday or Tuesday, Conception is also said to be effected by and when in period, partake of the powder branding children while at play in the of mindhal wixe? ith lapsi (coarse wheat streets.
flour fried in ghi and sweetened with It is believed that this brand, to have
molasses or sugar) seated on the threshold of
the house, 8 efficacy, must be inflicted on a Sunday or Tuesday. The eration is generally per
Many wear round their necks leaves called
bhojapatras on which the mystical figure formed in the evening with a red-hot needle.
given below is drawn by an exorcist, It is said that the branded child dies while the branding barren woman conceives a child.
Offering bread to black dogs is also supposed to be a cure for barrenness.
Conception is also favoured by passing under the bier or palanquin holding the corpse of an ascetic or holy man while it is being
4 12 12 carried to the cemetery. Some believe that such an ascetic or saint must be a follower of the Jain faith. Others maintain that the desir
24 24 ed end can be secured only by wearing round the elbows the grains of rice or coins offered
Pieces of paper on which the following to the bier of a saint on its way to the
jantra is written by an ascetic, woven in a cemetery.
string made of five kinds of silk, are also Other methods practised for the cure of
worn round the elbows : barrenness are as follows:
Swàhà aum thin kling snàhà. The barren woman cuts off a lock of the About a month and a quarter after the hair of a child-bearing woman and keeps it delivery of a woman, a ceremony called in her custody."
sarman sarvan is performed, when the woman Some women collect the dust trodden on by goes to a neighbouring stream or well to a child-bearing woman in an earthen pot and fetch water for the first time after her delieat it every day till it is exhausted,
very. Near the stream or well five small Some throw grains of adad (Phaseolus heaps of sand are made and daubed with red mungo) over the bed of a woman in confine- lead. Next, a lamp fed with ghi is lighted, ment.
and seven small betelnuts are offered to the
1 The School Master of Kotda Sangani.
2 The School Master of Ganod. 3 Mr. K. D. Desài.
The School Masters of Kotda Sangani and Chhatrasa. 5 The School Master of Jetpur.
• The Deputy Educational Inspector, Gohilwad. 1 The School Master of Vapod.
The School Masters of Dadvi and Chhatrasa. It is for this reason that barren women are not allowed to approach the bed of a womad in child-bed.