The term Danuwar
is not derived from the mother tongue spoken by the people of this folk group:
rather it is a derivation related to Nepali word Duna (leaves plate).
Normally speaking, people who settled on the bank of the stream and the rivers
and
adopted
the profession of fishing were called Danuwar. Thus, Dune (in Nepali
signifying inner terai) was appropriate place for them. People being settled in
Dune were named as Danuwar. Etemologically, the term Danuwar was derived from
the Sanskrit Dronibar (droni signifies the plain land between the
confluence of two rivers situated in the laps of two hills) as mentioned above,
fishing is their main profession so they settled on the confluence of the two
rivers. Similarly, Dukucha in Newar language signifies the domestic
animal goat. One day, people heard Dukukarne (the crying of goat) while
they were approaching over there right in present village. Since then, the name
of the place began to be known and recognized as Duku deleting the suffix
<arne> and the inhabitants were called Danuwar. Historically speaking, in
the fourteenth century, the king of Simoroungarh, the ancient kingdom on the
mid- southern part of Kathmandu, constructed a grandeur palace in the name of
his beautiful daughter and she was married by the crown prince of Lanka (now
Srilanka). The queen gave birth to five sons after marriage. Among them one was
Danuwar and the rest of the three were Newar, Sunuwar, Kirat and Limbu. The same
Danuwar immigrated and settled to the hilly area from the inner terai. His
successors’ surname remained Danuwar. Long time ago, Machhendranath or
Matsyendranath (means the king of water) was escorted from Kamarupa, one of
the holy Indian pilgrimage, to Kathmandu. The Danuwar had gone to bring
Matsyendranath Baba and brought him enroute to Dukuchhap. It was getting night
as they arrived at Dukku. So, they stayed and passed one auspicious night
over there and the devotees celebrated arrival of Baba hosting a worship during
the whole night. They offered him Prasad on the plate made of leaves and
a baby girl was seen on the same plate in the next morning. Machhendranath was
astonished to see it and baptized her as Duna because she was born out
of the Duna, the plate made of the leaves. In this way, it is believed
that they are the successors of Duna girl. They claim to be God Machhendranath
as their parental relative even today. They have now scattered all over in
search of better life and opportunities of income generating business and
settled in the different parts of the country. In search of origin of Dhimal
folk group, the Danuwar is also mentioned as the three sons: Munaingba,
Thoboingba, and Yoboingba of Swayambhu Satrupa in Prof. Diwasa’s research.
There were ten sons of Munaingba and the ancestors of Koche, Meche and Dhimal
and the youngest Thirukpa was the predecessor of Danuwar.
The folk belief,
as narrated by Khil Bahadur Danuwar to the
researchers,
in terms of origin of this folk group is that they were the poorest people of
the poorest village and Duku was derived from the Nepali word Dukhi
(the poorest and destitute). These people were Dukhi that signifies
the poorest and destitute in terms of economic and social condition.
Similarly, there
were a Brahmin young boy and a Chhetrini young girl. While the girl got asleep
soundly, the boy put his germs in Duna (the plate made up of the
leaves) and kept over her womb. It leaked and spilled inside and she became
pregnant. Her parent inquired her with whom she had sexual intercourse but she
did not have answer. However, the baby was baptized because he was born from
the chromosomes put on the Duna. Her successors were called Danuwar.
Settlement and
Population
Presently, there
are some Danuwar settled in other districts, namely, Udayapur (4019), Jhapa
(1250), Morang (1095), Sindhupalchok (2739), Sarlahi (920), Rautahat (12134)
Kavre (4110), Dhading and Makawanpur
including
41 districts of Nepal. Dukuchhap is small rural area located just 44 km away
from the Kathmandu city and 1312 meters high from the sea level. The total
population of the Danuwar is 53229 in the total population of the country and it
constitutes 0.14 percentage of the total population. According to the household
survey carried out by the researchers, the total population of the folk group is
835 households in this village. They prefer to settle on the bank of the rivers
and streams like Majhi, Kumal and Bote folk groups but they resemble with the
Tharu folk group of Terai. The houses are not in dispersed structure or pattern.
They plant trees and flowers at the front of their house buildings. In the
village, they make wide streets that is meant for courtyard whereas in
plain area they construct the courtyards at the front of their house. The
courtyards are used for sun bathing in winter seasons and feeding the groves to
cattle.
House
Construction and Use
Most of the
houses in the settlement of Danuwar are found in semi-patterned.
The
houses are rectangular and they are found mostly three storied in the village.
The first floor is used for cooking food and the cattles are kept just opposite
to the corner, they use for storing grains and food. The second floor and the
top floor are used to keep the light things like old tattered clothing and hay
and scraps of maize and sometimes, used as the bedrooms too if the number of
the family members is more in the house. There are barandas constructed at the
front part of the houses. But now the trend of constructing modern buildings is
prevailing in the locality.
Danuwar
Language
They have their
own language called Kaini (language, talk, and thing). There are dominant
language groups, namely Tamang in the upper part of the village, Nepali (Khas)
in the Middle and Duku Danuwar Kaini in the lower part of the village.
The language is
affiliated to Magadhi subgroup of indo- Aryan family. There are 25 consonants
and 12 vowels. There are two tenses: past and nonpast. The numbers are singular
and plural. The basic constituent order is S(ubject) O(bjects) V(erb). It is
left branching. It is very rich in terms of kinship terms. The areal languages
are Tamang and Newar which are affiliated to the Tibeto-Burman Group of
Sino-Tibetan language family.
There are a large
number of borrowed words from Nepali. In terms of sociolinguistic study, there
are multilingual speakers below sixty and the people above sixty are
monolinguals. The language is undocumented, unrecorded and endangered because
of language shift to Nepali which is used in educational and official purpose
in the country. There is no any written literature so far found in Danuwar
language. In terms of oral folk heritage it is considered to be tremendously
rich like other folk group’s cultural heritages. There are dialect variations
within the Danuwar living in the different parts of the country. They are not in
use in different domains of education, administration and media.
Family
and Kinship and Kinship
They practice
living in joint and nuclear family structures. In the nuclear family, there are
two generations living together whereas in the joint family there are more than
two generation sharing and living together. The family is patriarchal in terms
of decision making and
male
dominated too. As a result, the sons have right to inherit the properties after
the death of the parents. The fathers and mothers expect to live with the
sons but not with the daughters who are believed to become unknown after
marriage. The daughters can not claim any parental properties. The male Danuwar
practise polygamy for the sake of prestige, pride and honor of masculinity.
They incline to love more to the second wife because she looks more beautiful
and younger than the first wife who was already married in early age, and look
aged and older than the husband. The Danuwar young girls also expect to be the
'Kanchhi Swasni' (the second wife).
There are mainly
three forms of kinship relation in this community: 1) the kinship by blood, 2)
The kinship by marriage and 3) The kinship by fictive bondage. The degrees of
behavior differ from the status of the kin. Some of the kins are more honorable
and respectable than the others while some are in formality only. The kinship
by blood are the example of the relationship of brothers and sisters whereas the
kinship between father-in-law and sister-in-law is relation by marriage. The
kinship by miteri (mutual agreement to have relation based on same age
and status) is the relationship between the friends. Such are the kinship based
on the honor and respect of humanity. The incest in such kinship is considered
to be sinful evil and strongly condemned in the society. There should not be
a single touch on any parts or organs of body in miteri Saino (ritual
relation) if done so any person who did it would be fined certain amount of
money to become pure. These kinships are based on long tradition of social and
cultural norms and values which are brought up along with social and cultural
development.
Folk Belief
The widely held
folk belief in Danuwar is about the raining in the rainy season .They pray
and have strong faith upon Machhendranath while doing any works. First of all,
they remember the name of Machhendranath; pray to in his holy name and worship,
and start doing any work. They should not keep sheep as a pet in the house and
they should not touch the pigs even. They become purified after taking bath in
cool water. Similarly, the pregnant woman should not touch others' children
during the period of pregnancy, if done, her own newly born baby will suffer
from spongy diseases. It is not a good omen or indication or prediction to have
the sight of walking three persons together.
Folk
Gods/Goddesses and Festivals
The Danuwar folk
group mainly worship nature and respect natural diety. They mainly pray to
Matsyendranath and
Hindu
gods and goddesses. They celebrate Hindu festivals. These include Nag panchami
(worship of serpent), Gathe Mangal (worship of agricultural deity), Janai
Purnima (the day of special thread wearing for the males), Kartik Purnima
(worship of Machhendranath), Ched Nikalne (chasing away evil), Ropai jatra
(rice planting day in the farm), Machhendra Jatra (worship of Machhendranath,
Bhairab and Chhetrapal), Maghe Sankranti (the first day of the month of Magh
(generally the 15/16 January) Kushe Ausi (the day on which they worship the
soul of dead fathers), Chauthi (day on which the Danuwar are free to
steal cucumber, peas, soyabeans, and other vegetables from others’ framings),
Mangsir Purnima (kinship feeding day), Ama Khuwaune Ausi ( the mother
worshiping and feeding day), Dashain and Tihar.
Folk Dresses
and Ornaments
They do not have
folk dresses of their own origin. However,
the males normally put on shirt, pants, vest, waist coat, daura surwal, coat,
jacket, sweaters, and the females wear sarees, cholo, phariya, petty coat, and
roll the clothes on their waist. The traditional clothings are not worn
nowadays. The male Danuwars wear less ornaments than the females in this folk
group. The female Danuwar generally put on ear ring on the ears, ribbon on the
forehead, clip on the hair, and the girls put on clips, lemontu and so on. The
old women like putting on and tying the hair with the red ribbon on the heads.
Folk Medical
Treatment
The Danuwar have
faith upon the shaman’s performance and witch doctors. Even today they practice
chasing the evil,
visiting
the witch doctors, exchanging the achheta (made mixing cereal curd and
powder), driving away the evil spirit, and using the herbal medicines in
everyday life. They believe in healing the cough, headache, heart disease, post
pregnancy diseases, and cursing of nag (serpent or snakes) only after visiting
the witch doctors and shaman. They go to hospitals while suffering from
diarrhoea, pneumonia, fracture of bones, and other incurable diseases
nowadays.
Folk Literature
The Dukaini do
not have own script. However, there are oral folktales, riddles, proverbs,
ballads, religious hymns, and narratives of arrival of Machhendranath. The
folktales can be classified in Dantekatha (nine oral tales), historical
folktales, religious folktales, mythological folktales, tale of origins,
hearsay, and ballads and Gaukhane Katha (riddle, answering the question
in the form of story if defeated, the village as a bet would be lost) and so
on. ‘Hira Raja and Hira Rani’ Majhi Dai, Garib Bahun,
Toudahako Nag ra Nagini are the popular folk oral tales in Danuwar
literature. The two historical folktales are Kalik Kaini, Nariwal Gudaune
Jatra (running coconut festival), the arrival of Machhendranath, Toudahako
Bisphotan (explosion of Toudaha big lake in Newar language), and Ramayana,
Machhendranath, and Bhimsen are religious folktales. The tales which describe
the origin of Danuwar from Duku, Duna, Dune, Bahun-Chhetri etc. are the tales of
the origins.
Folk Performing
Arts
The Lakhe
dance and Ropai Jatra (paddy plantation festival) are
the
two popular folk performing dances. Maruni (a boy dances wearing girls’
dresses). Deusi and Bhailo are folk performing songs. Madal,
flute and mouth harmonium are the folk performing instruments found in this
folklife community. Similarly, the folk performing games include pathar goti,
pathar dhek, pangro (a game with wheels), dori khel (a
game with thread), and poudi (swimming).
Folk Musical
Instruments
The main folk
instruments of the community are
murali (flute) and madal (drum). In the past, there used to be
madal in each and every house in the community, but now there are only
three and four madals in the whole village. Interestingly, a mouth
harmonium was found in the search even that seemed to be made in china.
Gender Issues
and Decision Making Procedure
The women have
important role in the society. The daughters are offered gunyu choli
(blouse) after they become worth of right candidate for marriage in the same
way the sons become valid after conducting chhewar ceremony in the
society. Above all, the death ceremony can not be fully observed in the
absence of the daughters. If the daughter has eloped she becomes pure to
conduct death rituals after her mother beats on the back of the body once. The
girls in Dukuchhap are unmarried owing to the unavailability of the groom from
their own folk group or they did not get the right candidates as they had
expected or chosen or they were manipulated by their sister not to marry. If
they remained unmarried they get livelihood from the parents but they do not get
the certificate of land ownership. The fate of girls who remained single or
unmarried during the years of the life is very tedious and monotonous because
they are insulted and neglected mainly by their own elder or younger
sister-in-laws and the younger sisters of their own.
Rites of the
Passage
Janam ra nawaran (Birth and naming rite)
The birth of the
baby generally takes place in the separate room otherwise a mat is spread in a
certain place and the others take care of the baby. They invite the shaman and
the helper too. They become happier if the newly born baby is male rather than
the female. If the newly
born
baby is a son then parents distribute the gifts and chocolates to the whole
villagers. But they do not do so for the second time. During the time of
postnatal period the mother is fed flour of the cereal with the soup of juwano.
She is not allowed to go or should not go to any other places except the
majeri (the adjacent part of the door in a house) because of the
religious reason of causing the irritation or anger to the God of Clan. The
ceremony is celebrated for nine or eleven days. On the ninth day of birth, the
child is baptized and the mother becomes pure after she gets bathing and gets
her baby bathed on the fifteenth day.
Pasni (Feeding Ritual)
The rice feeding
day is observed on the ninth month if newly born baby is a male otherwise it
is observed on the fifth. Only some people perform this ritual nowadays and rest
of them do not conduct it because a huge amount of expenditure. The important
role in this ceremony depends on the baby’s maternal uncle as he feeds the rice
pudding or cooked rice. In the absence of maternal uncle, the grandfathers may
participate and play the role of the maternal uncle in the gathering. The
participants or invitees bless and hand gifts over the baby on the end of the
day. The absentees may attend the function next day and bless the child to be
good and great in life.
Chhewar (Adolescent rite)
The first hair
cutting ceremony is observed at the age of 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. The main
participants in this ceremony are maternal uncle, niece, and own relatives who
get together in the house. To mark the hair cutting day, they consult the
astrologers and decide the auspicious day and go to Gubhaju (Newari priest)
with one mana chamal (almost half a kilogram rice) and the amount of 25
rupees. They smear the floor with cow dung and the floor is considered to be
purified for the purpose. They worship god especially Matsyendranath before they
start doing Chhewar. They gather from the village as invited earlier
than the day of first hair cutting. The ceremony lasts for the five days
on special occasion. After the completion of ritual the son is allowed to
observe mourning rituals after the death of father or mother and also become
worth candidate of marriage in the family.
Vivaha (Marriage rite)
The marriage
system in this folk group includes arranged marriage, love marriage, and
marriage by capture. In arranged marriage, the bride for the son is fixed by the
parents. However there were only two pairs found who were married with
panchya baja. The marriage procession with a dalo ofroti
(a basket of bread), a gagri of chhang (a bucket of local wine) and
three and four pathi (equivalent to three kg) wine starts from the bridegroom’s
home. Besides, they carry hens, mutton, he-goats too. They play the PanchyaBaja (five musical instruments i.e. damaha, sanaya, jhali, two
narsingha) in the marriage procession if the family is capable of that. The
ceremony lasts for the two days, and then they introduce the mother-in-laws and
the father-in-laws including other relatives on the final phase of the marriage
day.
The love marriage
system is very dominating trend. Whether they are in daily wages work or farm
working or making flour or schooling they know each other and share the
feelings. Then, the love affair really begins. They realize and express feeling
of each other and promise that they can not live without the absence of one
and finally it turns into love marriage and settle conjugal life in the
society. If the lad or boy is very much fond of the lady or girl he persuades
and captures her to hide in a unknown place and may have intercourse on the
same night. Then, they can marry with the consent of the father or mother.
Sometimes, the lad and the lady decide earlier themselves and the parents
might have already known about it. But the parent of the girl should beat the
would be son-in-law with the sticks at the first sight or meeting. This
tradition has not been prevailing since the last six or seven years.
Tradition of giving Neg (a ritual of feeding
parents)
There is a
traditional ritual of giving neg to the maiti (the parental
relatives of the bride) while doing so, they should prepare bread, wine,
soybean, mutton, chicken, and fetch to the parents’ house and feed them.
Thereafter, the parents give dowry to the daughter. The daughters are not
allowed to visit the father’s house or maitiunless they have completed
neg ritual.
Mirtyu (Death rite and purifying rite)
The dead body is
laid stretching its head to the north direction. A lamp is burnt on the side of
the head of the corpse.
The
eldest son sits at the side of the burning lamp and the youngest son sits on
the side of the legs. If the dead has no son the daughter can light dag
batti (offering fire to the dead body). The ritual concludes on the ninth
or seventh day and the family becomes purified after scattering the grains and
water put on the leaf plates on the crossroads. On the very day, the son-in-law
or the niece slaughter the hens and smother the head of the cock to the place
where they offer the Pinda (cooked rice meant for the dead
person). It is believed or said that the women folk should not see these ritual
activities of the men. Whether they are men or women they should mourn for the
whole year. During the time, they should not eat oranges, pidalu (yam),
badam (peanut), and the second hand
cigarettes and the food prepared by others
except the member of the family.
Barakhi (Mourning rite)
They mourn for
the whole year renouncing orange, badam (peanut), pidalu (yam), as
well as food cooked outside the house. The sons of the dead father or mothers
should wear white dresses and white shoes and should not shave beards, moustache
during the whole year. The red tika should not be put on the forehead. If
the dead is an unmarried girl the eldest brother mourns on her death. The women
wear black dress to mourn the death of their husbands.
Economic Life and Livelihood
The main
profession is fishing. The women knit the mats and sell them. Because of water
pollution in Bagmati river the fishing is almost ended now. The other works of
income generations are driving, daily wages works, working in the industry,
government offices, and farming.
Concluding
Remarks
The Danuwar
people are one of the endangered indigenous folk groups though they are very
rich in terms of folk heritage. They have their own traditional beliefs,
language, ornaments, clothing, housing, settlements, and folk cultures different
from others. After the FOFO research they have become aware on the importance of
their folklore and folklife.
Prepared by: Mr.
Omkareshwor Shrestha, Mr. Ajit Man Tamang, Mr. Yadav Subedi and Mr. Man Bahadur
Shahu
adopted
the profession of fishing were called Danuwar. Thus, Dune (in Nepali
signifying inner terai) was appropriate place for them. People being settled in
Dune were named as Danuwar. Etemologically, the term Danuwar was derived from
the Sanskrit Dronibar (droni signifies the plain land between the
confluence of two rivers situated in the laps of two hills) as mentioned above,
fishing is their main profession so they settled on the confluence of the two
rivers. Similarly, Dukucha in Newar language signifies the domestic
animal goat. One day, people heard Dukukarne (the crying of goat) while
they were approaching over there right in present village. Since then, the name
of the place began to be known and recognized as Duku deleting the suffix
<arne> and the inhabitants were called Danuwar. Historically speaking, in
the fourteenth century, the king of Simoroungarh, the ancient kingdom on the
mid- southern part of Kathmandu, constructed a grandeur palace in the name of
his beautiful daughter and she was married by the crown prince of Lanka (now
Srilanka). The queen gave birth to five sons after marriage. Among them one was
Danuwar and the rest of the three were Newar, Sunuwar, Kirat and Limbu. The same
Danuwar immigrated and settled to the hilly area from the inner terai. His
successors’ surname remained Danuwar. Long time ago, Machhendranath or
Matsyendranath (means the king of water) was escorted from Kamarupa, one of
the holy Indian pilgrimage, to Kathmandu. The Danuwar had gone to bring
Matsyendranath Baba and brought him enroute to Dukuchhap. It was getting night
as they arrived at Dukku. So, they stayed and passed one auspicious night
over there and the devotees celebrated arrival of Baba hosting a worship during
the whole night. They offered him Prasad on the plate made of leaves and
a baby girl was seen on the same plate in the next morning. Machhendranath was
astonished to see it and baptized her as Duna because she was born out
of the Duna, the plate made of the leaves. In this way, it is believed
that they are the successors of Duna girl. They claim to be God Machhendranath
as their parental relative even today. They have now scattered all over in
search of better life and opportunities of income generating business and
settled in the different parts of the country. In search of origin of Dhimal
folk group, the Danuwar is also mentioned as the three sons: Munaingba,
Thoboingba, and Yoboingba of Swayambhu Satrupa in Prof. Diwasa’s research.
There were ten sons of Munaingba and the ancestors of Koche, Meche and Dhimal
and the youngest Thirukpa was the predecessor of Danuwar.
researchers,
in terms of origin of this folk group is that they were the poorest people of
the poorest village and Duku was derived from the Nepali word Dukhi
(the poorest and destitute). These people were Dukhi that signifies
the poorest and destitute in terms of economic and social condition.
including
41 districts of Nepal. Dukuchhap is small rural area located just 44 km away
from the Kathmandu city and 1312 meters high from the sea level. The total
population of the Danuwar is 53229 in the total population of the country and it
constitutes 0.14 percentage of the total population. According to the household
survey carried out by the researchers, the total population of the folk group is
835 households in this village. They prefer to settle on the bank of the rivers
and streams like Majhi, Kumal and Bote folk groups but they resemble with the
Tharu folk group of Terai. The houses are not in dispersed structure or pattern.
They plant trees and flowers at the front of their house buildings. In the
village, they make wide streets that is meant for courtyard whereas in
plain area they construct the courtyards at the front of their house. The
courtyards are used for sun bathing in winter seasons and feeding the groves to
cattle.
The
houses are rectangular and they are found mostly three storied in the village.
The first floor is used for cooking food and the cattles are kept just opposite
to the corner, they use for storing grains and food. The second floor and the
top floor are used to keep the light things like old tattered clothing and hay
and scraps of maize and sometimes, used as the bedrooms too if the number of
the family members is more in the house. There are barandas constructed at the
front part of the houses. But now the trend of constructing modern buildings is
prevailing in the locality.
male
dominated too. As a result, the sons have right to inherit the properties after
the death of the parents. The fathers and mothers expect to live with the
sons but not with the daughters who are believed to become unknown after
marriage. The daughters can not claim any parental properties. The male Danuwar
practise polygamy for the sake of prestige, pride and honor of masculinity.
They incline to love more to the second wife because she looks more beautiful
and younger than the first wife who was already married in early age, and look
aged and older than the husband. The Danuwar young girls also expect to be the
'Kanchhi Swasni' (the second wife).
Hindu
gods and goddesses. They celebrate Hindu festivals. These include Nag panchami
(worship of serpent), Gathe Mangal (worship of agricultural deity), Janai
Purnima (the day of special thread wearing for the males), Kartik Purnima
(worship of Machhendranath), Ched Nikalne (chasing away evil), Ropai jatra
(rice planting day in the farm), Machhendra Jatra (worship of Machhendranath,
Bhairab and Chhetrapal), Maghe Sankranti (the first day of the month of Magh
(generally the 15/16 January) Kushe Ausi (the day on which they worship the
soul of dead fathers), Chauthi (day on which the Danuwar are free to
steal cucumber, peas, soyabeans, and other vegetables from others’ framings),
Mangsir Purnima (kinship feeding day), Ama Khuwaune Ausi ( the mother
worshiping and feeding day), Dashain and Tihar. 
They do not have
folk dresses of their own origin. However,
the males normally put on shirt, pants, vest, waist coat, daura surwal, coat,
jacket, sweaters, and the females wear sarees, cholo, phariya, petty coat, and
roll the clothes on their waist. The traditional clothings are not worn
nowadays. The male Danuwars wear less ornaments than the females in this folk
group. The female Danuwar generally put on ear ring on the ears, ribbon on the
forehead, clip on the hair, and the girls put on clips, lemontu and so on. The
old women like putting on and tying the hair with the red ribbon on the heads.
visiting
the witch doctors, exchanging the achheta (made mixing cereal curd and
powder), driving away the evil spirit, and using the herbal medicines in
everyday life. They believe in healing the cough, headache, heart disease, post
pregnancy diseases, and cursing of nag (serpent or snakes) only after visiting
the witch doctors and shaman. They go to hospitals while suffering from
diarrhoea, pneumonia, fracture of bones, and other incurable diseases
nowadays.
the
two popular folk performing dances. Maruni (a boy dances wearing girls’
dresses). Deusi and Bhailo are folk performing songs. Madal,
flute and mouth harmonium are the folk performing instruments found in this
folklife community. Similarly, the folk performing games include pathar goti,
pathar dhek, pangro (a game with wheels), dori khel (a
game with thread), and poudi (swimming).
The main folk
instruments of the community are
murali (flute) and madal (drum). In the past, there used to be
madal in each and every house in the community, but now there are only
three and four madals in the whole village. Interestingly, a mouth
harmonium was found in the search even that seemed to be made in china.
born
baby is a son then parents distribute the gifts and chocolates to the whole
villagers. But they do not do so for the second time. During the time of
postnatal period the mother is fed flour of the cereal with the soup of juwano.
She is not allowed to go or should not go to any other places except the
majeri (the adjacent part of the door in a house) because of the
religious reason of causing the irritation or anger to the God of Clan. The
ceremony is celebrated for nine or eleven days. On the ninth day of birth, the
child is baptized and the mother becomes pure after she gets bathing and gets
her baby bathed on the fifteenth day.
The
eldest son sits at the side of the burning lamp and the youngest son sits on
the side of the legs. If the dead has no son the daughter can light dag
batti (offering fire to the dead body). The ritual concludes on the ninth
or seventh day and the family becomes purified after scattering the grains and
water put on the leaf plates on the crossroads. On the very day, the son-in-law
or the niece slaughter the hens and smother the head of the cock to the place
where they offer the Pinda (cooked rice meant for the dead
person). It is believed or said that the women folk should not see these ritual
activities of the men. Whether they are men or women they should mourn for the
whole year. During the time, they should not eat oranges, pidalu (yam),
badam (peanut), and the second hand