On the fortieth day after the infant's birth, the same rites are observed as by the Jews (with the exception of circumcision), and denominated, as with them, the Day of Purification. On this day the infant is submitted to the hands of the barber, who shaves the head, as commanded by their law. The mother bathes and dresses in her most costly attire. Dinner is cooked for the poor in abundance. Friends and relatives call on the mother to present nuzzas and offerings, and to bring presents to the child, after the manner of the wise men's offerings, so familiar to us in our Scriptures. The offerings to the child are often costly and pretty; bangles and various ornaments of the precious metals. The taawees[7] of gold and silver are tablets on which engraved verses from the Khoraun are inscribed in Arabic characters; these are strung on cords of gold thread, and suspended, when the child is old enough to bear their weight, over one shoulder, crossing the back and chest, and reaching below the hip on the opposite side; they have a remarkably good effect with the rich style of dressing Native children. In some of the offerings from the great people are to be observed precious stones set in necklaces, and bangles for the arms and ankles. All who visit at these times take something for the baby; it would be deemed an omen of evil in any one neglecting to follow this immemorial custom; not that they are avaricious, but that they are anxious for their infant's prosperity, which these tributes are supposed to indicate.[8]
The mother thus blessed with a darling son is almost the idol of the new family she has honoured; and when such a person happens to be an agreeable, prudent woman, she is likely to remain without a rival in her husband's heart, who has no inducement to add dhollie[9] wives to his establishment when his home is made happy to him by the only wife who can do him honour by the alliance.
The birthday of each son in a family is regularly kept. The term used for the occasion is Saul-girrah[10]—derived, from saul, a year, girrah, to tie a knot. The custom is duly maintained by tying a knot on a string kept for the purpose by the mother, on the return of her boy's birthday. The girls' years are numbered by a silver loop or ring being added yearly to the gurdonie,[11] or silver neck-ring. These are the only methods of registering the ages of Mussulmaun children.
The Saul-girrah is a day of annual rejoicing through the whole house of which the boy is a member; music, fireworks, toys, and whatever amusement suits his age and taste, are liberally granted to fill up the measure of his happiness; whilst his father and mother have each their assemblies to the fullest extent of their means. Dinner is provided liberally for the guests, and the poor are not neglected, whose prayers and blessings are coveted by the parents for their offspring's benefit; and they believe the blessings of the poor are certain mediations at the throne of mercy which cannot fail to produce benefits on the person in whose favour they are invoked.
The boy's nurse is on all occasions of rejoicing the first person to be considered in the distribution of gifts; she is, indeed, only second in the estimation of the parents to the child she has reared and nourished; and with the child, she is of more consequence even than his natural parents. The wet-nurse, I have said, is retained in the family to the end of her days, and whatever children she may have of her own, they are received into the family of her employer without reserve, either as servants or companions, and their interest in life regarded and watched over with the solicitude of relations, by the parents of the boy she has nursed.
At seven years old the boys are circumcised, as by their law directed. The thanksgiving when the child is allowed to emerge from confinement, gives rise to another jubilee in the family.
At Lucknow we see, almost daily, processions on their way to the Durgah (before described),[12] where the father conveys the young Mussulmaun to return thanks and public acknowledgements at the sainted shrine. The procession is planned on a grand scale, and all the male friends that can be collected attend in the cavalcade to do honour to so interesting an occasion.
When the prayer and thanksgiving have been duly offered in the boy's name at the Durgah, money is distributed amongst the assembled poor; and on the way home, silver and copper coins are thrown to the multitude who crowd around the procession. The scrambling and tumult on these occasions can only be relished by the Natives, who thus court popularity; but they rarely move in state without these scenes of confusion following in their train. I have witnessed thousands of people following the King's train, on his visiting the Durgah at Lucknow, when his Majesty and his Prime Minister scattered several thousands of rupees amongst the populace. The noise was deafening, some calling blessings on the King, others quarrelling and struggling to force away the prize from the happy one who had caught, in the passing shower, a rupee or two in his drapery. Some of the most cunning secure the prize in their mouths to save themselves from the plunderer; some are thrown down and trampled under foot; the sandy soil, however, renders their situation less alarming than such a calamity would be in London, but it is altogether a scene of confusion sufficient to terrify any one, except those who delight in their ancient customs without regarding consequences to individuals.
The amusements of boys in India differ widely from the juvenile sports of the English youth; here there are neither matches at cricket nor races; neither hoops nor any other game which requires exercise on foot. Marbles they have, and such other sports as suit their habits and climate, and can be indulged in without too much bodily exertion. They fly kites at all ages. I have seen men in years, even, engaged in this amusement, alike unconscious that they were wasting time, or employing it in pursuits fitted only for children. They are flown from the flat roofs of the houses, where it is common with the men to take their seat at sunset. They are much amused by a kind of contest with kites, which is carried on in the following manner. The neighbouring gentlemen, having provided themselves with lines, previously rubbed with paste and covered with pounded glass, raise their kites, which, when brought in contact with each other by a current of air, the topmost string cuts through the under one, when down falls the kite, to the evident amusement of the idlers in the streets or roadway, who with shouts and hurrahs seek to gain possession of the toy, with as much avidity as if it were a prize of the greatest value: however, from the numerous competitors, and their great zeal to obtain possession of it, it is usually torn to pieces. Much skill is shown in the endeavours of each party to keep his string uppermost, by which he is enabled to cut that of his adversary's kite.
The male population are great pigeon-fanciers, and are very choice in their breed, having every variety of the species they can possibly procure; some are brought from different parts of the world at an enormous expense. Each proprietor of a flock of pigeons knows his own birds from every other. They are generally confined in bamboo houses erected on the flat roofs of the mansions, where at early dawn and at sunset the owner takes his station to feed his pets and give them a short airing. Perhaps a neighbour's flock have also emerged from their cages at the same time, when mingling in the circuit round and round the buildings (as often happens), one or more from one person's flock will return home with those of another; in which case, they are his lawful prize for ever, unless his neighbour wishes to redeem the captives by a price, or by an exchange of prisoners. The fortunate holder, however, of such prize makes his own terms, which are perhaps exorbitant, particularly if he have any ill-will against the proprietor, or the stray pigeon happen to be of a peculiarly rare kind.[13] Many are the proofs of good breeding and civility, elicited on such occasions between gentlemen; and many, also, are the perpetuated quarrels where such a collision of interests happens between young men of bad feelings, or with persons having any previous dislike to each other.