The great object of the treatment after birth is to prevent the mother
and child from catching cold. They appear to confuse the symptoms of
pneumonia and infantile lockjaw in a disease called _sanpat_, to the
prevention of which their efforts are directed. A _sigri_ or stove
is kept alight under the bed, and in this the seeds of _ajwain_ or
coriander are burnt. The mother eats the seeds, and the child is waved
over the stove in the smoke of the burning _ajwain_. Raw asafoetida
is put in the woman's ears wrapped in cotton-wool, and she eats a
little half-cooked. A freshly-dried piece of cowdung is also picked
up from the ground and half-burnt and put in water, and some of this
water is given to her to drink, the process being repeated every day
for a month. Other details of the treatment of the mother and child
after birth are given in the articles on Mehtar and Kunbi. For the
first five days after birth the child is given a little honey and
calf's urine mixed. If the child coughs it is given _bans-lochan_,
which is said to be some kind of silicate found in bamboos. The mother
does not suckle the child for three days, and for that period she is
not washed and nobody goes near her, at least in Mandla. On the third
day after the birth of a girl, or the fourth after that of a boy, the
mother is washed and the child is then suckled by her for the first
time, at an auspicious moment pointed out by the astrologer. Generally
speaking the whole treatment of child-birth is directed towards the
avoidance of various imaginary magical dangers, while the real sanitary
precautions and other assistance which should be given to the mother
are not only totally neglected, but the treatment employed greatly
aggravates the ordinary risks which a woman has to take, especially
in the middle and higher castes.