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BEHAVIOUR DURING PREGNANCY 347
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Never let her yield to anger or malice.
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Let her abstain from all food that is not to her husband ' s taste. Let her not oil her head when her husband does not oil his own.
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If her husband go away anywhere and ask her to accompany him, let her follow him; if he tell her to remain at home, let her not leave the house during his absence.
Until his return she shall not bathe, or anoint her head with oil, or clean her teeth, or pare her nails; she shall eat but once a day, shall not lie down on a bed, or wear new clothes, or adorn her forehead with any of the ordinary marks 1. 1
A woman during her menstrual period shall retire for three days to a place apart. During this time, she shall not look at anybody, not even at her children, or at the light of the sun. On the fourth day she shall bathe, observing the proper rites for such occasions which were established before the Kali-yuga 2. woman, when she is pregnant, must conform to all
the rites prescribed for such occasions. She must then
avoid the company of women of doubtful virtue and of those who have lost all their children; she must drive
away from her mind all sad thoughts; she must be careful not to gaze at terrifying objects, or to listen to sad stories, or to eat anything indigestible 3. By observing these rules, she will have beautiful children; by neglecting them she will risk a miscarriage.
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A wife, during the absence of her husband, should strictly conform to his parting counsels. She should be
heedless of her attire, and should not devote herself, under the plea of devotion to the gods, to any special acts of piety.
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If a husband keep two wives, the one should not amuse herself at the expense of the other, be it for good or for
evil; neither should the one talk about the beauty or the
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These restrictions are not observed nowadays. Ed. a
The hermit Vasishta here describes these practices. I will explain them in Appendix IV. Dubois.
Nowadays a woman in this condition is not forbidden communication with her children. Ed.
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It may be added that a cocoanut is never broken in the presence of a pregnant woman. Ed.