Indian Antiquary Vol 46

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

Page 448

100
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
stream or well A cocoanut is then broken, Some take a bath on the third day of and a part of it is thrown into the water as their period, and stand on the threshold an offering. Next, the woman fills a jar of the house with their hair sprinkled over with the water of the stream or well and with kankotri (red powder) Next, a ghised returns home, taking with her six out of the lamp is offered to the deities, and the devotee seven betelnuts offered to the stream or well. prostrates herself before the lamp. On her way home she is approached by It is also believed that barrenness can be barren women who request to be favoured cured by religious vows, by offering alms in with one of the betelnuts, as it is believed propitiation of malignant planets such as that swallowing such a betelnut causes Mars, and by reciting the jap or incantation conception,
called gopal santax to please the deity of Some believe that only the smallest of the that name. seven betelnuts has the power of producing One of the religious vows of this nature this result. Others hold that this betelnot is to observe, fasts on twelve consecutive must be swallowed on the threshold of a Sundays or Tuesdays. On these days the honse. 3
devotee fixes her gate on the sun and offers Eating cocoa-kernel and molasses sitting him worship. after which she takes a meal on the threshold of the house on the fourth
prepared in milk without salt or sugar, day of the monthly period is also believed
Some hold a recitation of the chandi kapach to be a remedy for the cure of barrennes.
a hundred times through Brahmans with Placing a box containing a kori, ( a small
sacrificial oblations of clarified butter, sesasilver coin) on a spot where three roads mom seed kamod ( kind of rice ), gugal cross one another is also said to favour
(rhododendron )sandalwood and sugarconception,
candy. Others have the story of the In some places, black earthen pot | Harivansha recited on seve
Harivansha recited on seventeen consecutive containing charcoal and grains of adad days, during which period the devotee (i.e., the (Phaseolus mungo ) is placed on a spot where barren woman ) observes brahmacharya that two roads cross one another, on a Sunday
is abstains from sexual enjoyment. This cereor Tuesday. On this day the barren woman mony is believed to exorcise the fiend of has to take her meals without salt.
barrenness. 10 Cutting off a lock of a child's hair and Some keep a vow of standing on their legs keeping it in custody is also believed to for the whole day on the fourteenth of the satisfy the longing of a barren woman for a month of Phàlgun (the fifth month of the child. This result can also be obtained by Gujarat Hindu year) and of breaking their securing a piece of a garment of a suckling fast after worshipping the sacred Pyre. 11 child.
There is another vow called the Punema or Some worship daily & cocoanat and a full-moon day vow, the observance of which betelnut consecrated with incantations, is believed to favour the birth of a son. 12
The School Master of Todia. 3 The School Master of Lavaria. 5 The School Master of Rajpara
The School Master of Jhinjhawada • The School Master of Kotdà Sangani. u The School Master of Todia.
• The School Master of Mota Devalie.
The School Master of Chhatrasa • The School Master of Khir sara: * The School Master of Dhank. 10 The School Master of Ganod. 1 The School Master of Ganod