In parts of Mandla the first appearance of the signs of puberty in
a girl is an important occasion. She stays apart for four days, and
during this time she ties up one of her body-cloths to a beam in the
house in the shape of a cradle, and swings it for a quarter or half
an hour every day in the name of Jhulan Devi, the cradle goddess. On
the fifth day she goes and bathes, and the Baiga priest and his wife
go with her. She gives the Baiga a hen and five eggs and a bottle of
wine, and he offers them to Jhulan Devi at her shrine. To the Baigan
she gives a hen and ten eggs and a bottle of liquor, and the Baigan
tattoos the image of Jhulan Devi on each side of her body. A black
hen with feathers spotted with white is usually chosen, as they say
that this hen's blood is of a darker colour and that she lays more
eggs. All this ceremonial is clearly meant to induce fertility in the
girl. The Gonds regard a woman as impure for as long as the menstrual
period lasts, and during this time she cannot draw water nor cook food,
nor go into a cowshed or touch cowdung. In the wilder Maria tracts
there is, or was till lately, a building out of sight of the village
to which women in this condition retired. Her relatives brought her
food and deposited it outside the hut, and when they had gone away
she came out and took it. It was considered that a great evil would
befall any one who looked on the face of a woman during the period of
this impurity. The Raj-Gonds have the same rules as Hindus regarding
the menstrual periods of women. [64]