Page:Malabari, Behramji M. - Gujarat and the Gujaratis (1882).djvu/239

223 HOME LIFE IN GUJARÁT.

details of domestic life in Gujarát may not be uninteresting. Let us begin with the beginning—birth. The birth of a child is, of course, an event in the family. Want of issue is felt as a curse and a reproach by the wife as well as the husband. No Hindu can enter Swarga, his heaven who does not leave a son and heir in the world to perform the post mortem ceremony named Shrádha. The Parsi is not quite free from this superstition. When conjugal life is unblessed with issue, a thousand means are tried by the poor wife. She is not an honoured wife before she becomes a mother. She appeals to gods and goddesses without number to grant her prayer. Charlatans and impostors are not wanting to take advantage of her ignorance. It