Verse 1.4.18

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 1.4.18:

বালক-উত্থান-পর্বে যত নারী-গণ শচী-সঙ্গে গঙ্গা-স্নানে করিলা গমন ॥ ১৮ ॥

बालक-उत्थान-पर्वे यत नारी-गण शची-सङ्गे गङ्गा-स्नाने करिला गमन ॥ १८ ॥

bālaka-utthāna-parve yata nārī-gaṇa śacī-saṅge gaṅgā-snāne karilā gamana || 18 ||

balaka-utthana-parve yata nari-gana saci-sange ganga-snane karila gamana (18)

English translation:

(18) On the occasion of the child’s coming out of the maternity room, the ladies accompanied Śacīdevī for bath in the Ganges.

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

The term bālaka-utthāna-parve refers to the occasion when a child is brought out of the maternity room. In ancient times the mother had to remain in the maternity room for four months after the child was born. This occasion is also known as sūrya-darśana-saṃskāra, or seeing the sun for the first time. It has now been established that after childbirth,

brāhmaṇa mothers are contaminated for 21 days and śūdras mothers are contaminated for one month. At the time of Śrīmān Mahāprabhu the period of contamination for the mother of a newborn child was one month, as confirmed in verse 17: paripūrṇa haila māseka ei-mate—“in this way one month passed.” Later on, Satī Mā, the wife of one Rāmaśaraṇa Pāla (of the āula-sahajiyā sect) came out of the maternity room right after giving childbirth on the grounds that the child was gifted by Lord Hari.