A pregnant woman must stay indoors during an eclipse; if she goes out
and sees it they believe that her child will be born deformed. They
think that a woman in this condition must be given any food which
she takes a fancy for, so far as may be practicable, as to thwart her
desires would affect the health of the child. Women in this condition
sometimes have a craving for eating earth; then they will eat either
the scrapings or whitewash from the walls, or black clay soil, or
the ashes of cowdung cakes to the extent of a small handful a day. A
woman's first child should be born in her father-in-law's or husband's
house if possible, but at any rate not in her father's house. And if
she should be taken with the pangs of travail while on a visit to her
own family, they will send her to some other house for her child to be
born. The ears of boys and the ears and nostrils of girls are pierced,
and until this is done they are not considered to be proper members
of the caste and can take food from any one's hand. The Chitaris of
Mandla permit a boy to do this until he is married. A child's hair is
not shaved when it is born, but this should be done once before it is
three years old, whether it be a boy or girl. After this the hair may
be allowed to grow, and shaved off or simply cut as they prefer. Except
in the case of illness a girl's hair is only shaved once, and that
of an adult woman is never cut, unless she becomes a widow and makes
a pilgrimage to a sacred place, when it is shaved off as an offering.