How did the Ancient Indians keep their women safe during the perilous months of pregnancy and after childbirth?
Pregnancy and childbirth have been dangerous periods for women throughout history. So many have been seriously sickened or died doing the duty expected of them – or else obliged to try to deliver children scarcely wanted. It is easy to forget in the modern, developed world, that pregnancy could until very recently be a potential death sentence.
The ways in which different societies have dealt with issues of pregnancy have varied significantly, from letting the woman concerned live a life of whatever luxury might be provided to expecting her to continue with a life of physical labour right up until the very day of birth. In many cases, the treatment of the women concerned depended on the extent to which the society could provide a surplus of goods and services to people in need. In ancient India, especially among upper caste women, it was expected that some such luxuries could be provided. From as close to the moment of conception as could be determined, the pregnant woman was expected to live a life of ease and rest.
All extremes were to be avoided: no strong perfume, no extremes of heat or cold, no excessive starvation or feeding.
The future mother was expected to develop a severe and possibly eccentric appetite by about the second or third month and this was to be met as far as possible, with junior family members and servants or slaves running helter-skelter in all directions to fetch whatever might be required, even meat, which was only rarely eaten. At this point a number of rituals might be begun to try to distinguish the sex of the future child. In one of the simplest, the youngest member of the household would point randomly at the pregnant woman and the gender of the word used to denote the closest organ to the child’s touch would be taken as an omen. In other cases, the father would be involved in complex herb grinding, ritual recitation and divination. Generally, attempts to guess a baby’s gender achieved around 50% success.
The woman’s body was always kept clean and fragrant, as well as adorned by appropriate flowers and decorations. The time at which full cleaning of the body were to take place were also circumscribed in the venerable ayurvedic treatises that were studied by the sages and doctors appointed to treat pregnant women. Knowledge was based on books rather than practical application or experimentation.
As the time for childbirth came closer, special preparations were made: all knots would be untied in the house and the father would pour a specially blessed bowl of water into the garden in the same direction as the nearest river. Meanwhile, a mixture of ghee, honey and curds was made ready to place on the baby’s lips as its first taste of life on this earth. Attention switched to the ways necessary to keep the baby safe and healthy during the precarious early days of life.
Reference
Auboyer, Jeannine, Daily Life in Ancient India: From 200 BC to 700 AD (London: Phoenix Press, 2002), translated by Simon Watson Taylor.
John Walsh, Shinawatra University, April 2007
