Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India, Volume 7.djvu/86

TIYAN On the twenty-seventh or fortieth day after the birth of a child, the mother and the infant are taken back to the husband's house, and cow's milk is for the first time given to the child. This event, which has all the solemnity of a regular function, takes place in the middle room, where the lamp, mat and other articles have been arranged. The child's paternal grandfather, father's elder brother, or other senior man administers the milk, which has been boiled. A gold bracelet is dipped in it, and the drops of milk are made to fall into the child's mouth. As this is being done, the celebrant whispers in the child's right ear the name which will be formally given to it in the sixth month. The eldest son is always named after the paternal grandfather, and the second after the father. In like manner, the eldest girl is named after its own mother. Relations and friends take this opportunity to make presents of bracelets and other articles to the infant. A feast is then held. After the ceremony is over, the parents of the child's mother have to send about half a bag of rice flour mixed with jaggery to her husband's house.

For the first six months of its life, a child's food consists of nature's fount and cow's milk. It is then, before the sixth month is over, given boiled rice for the first time. The ceremony takes place either in the middle room of its father's house, or at a temple. The child's grandfather, or the eldest male member of the family, sits on a mat, and takes the child in his lap. With a gold ring he applies honey three times to its mouth, and then gives it a little rice three times. Female relations who are present follow his example, giving the child first honey, and then rice. Several women, with the lighted lamp and other articles, carry the child into the yard, to show it the sky. They go round a cocoanut tree, and