A woman is impure for six days after a birth until the performance
of the Chathi or sixth-day ceremony, when the child's head is shaved
and the mother and child are bathed and their bodies rubbed with oil
and turmeric. After this a woman can go about her work in the house,
but she may not cook food nor draw water for two and a half months
after the birth of a male child, nor for three months after that of a
female one. Till the performance of the Chathi ceremony the husband
is also impure, and he may not worship the gods or go hunting or
shooting or even go for any distance into the forest. If a child is
born within six months of the death of any person in the family, they
think that the dead relative has been reborn in the child and give
the child the same name, apparently without distinction of sex. If a
mother's milk runs dry and she cannot suckle her child they give her
fresh fish and salt to eat, and think that this will cause the milk
to flow. The idea of eating the fish is probably that being a denizen
of the liquid element it will produce liquid in the mother's body,
but it is not clear whether the salt has any special meaning.