2. Rites Related to Birth (c): Puṃsavana

To ensure the birth of a son, another rite, viz. Puṃsavana was also practised. Sāyaṇācārya^[1] has commented the term as pumān sūyate yena karmaṇā tat puṃsavanam, i.e. the rite, performed with the desire of a male child is Puṃsavana. Keśava also gives the same meaning of the term.^[2] Kauśika is silent about the time as to when it should be observed, but, according to the Atharvapaddhati and the Daśakarmāṇi, it should be performed in the fifth month of pregnancy.^[3]

In this rite, an arrow, after having been consecrated with the Atharvavedic hymn, yena vehad…, etc. (3.23), was fastened over the head of the pregnant woman.^[4] Then, milk of a cow who had a calf of same colour was put into a cup, made from ploughshare (phālacamasa) and rice and barley or the paste of Palāśa and Vidārī plant were placed in it and then, the mixture was put into the right nostril of the woman with the right thumb.^[5]

Besides this, the Kauśikasūtra prescribes another way of observing this Puṃsavana rite. In this process, fire was produced from a Aśvattha plant, which grows on a Śamī plant and this fire was thrown into clarified butter and then, it was poured on the right nostril of the woman after reciting the hymn, śamīmaśvattha…, etc. (6.11).^[6] Thereafter, casting the same fire into the drink, called madhumantha and consecrating it with the same hymn, was offered to the wife to drink.^[7] Then, the fire was encircled with black wool and was tied to the woman.^[8]

These procedures of Puṃsavana with certain other additions are furnished in the Atharvavedaprayogabhānu in five different ways. There, it is stated that to get better results, all those ways are to be followed.^[9]

In order to foretell the sex of the foetus in the mother’s womb, four fruits of the Vratasī plant were put in the hands of the pregnant woman with water.^[10] If those remain in her hands, then, the child will be a boy.^[11] Moreover, with the same purpose, a brāhmaṇāyana,^[12] i.e. a person whose father is alive, or his old brother is alive or in whose family any other elderly person is alive, had to touch the parts of that woman^[13] and if he touched the parts of masculine name such as hands, feet, ears, arms, etc., then, the forthcoming baby would be born as a male one.^[14]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Sāyaṇa, Ibid., 6.11.1

[2]:

putrārthaṃ karma puṃsavanamityucyate / Keśava on Kauśika-sūtra, 35.4

[3]:

pancame māsi / Atharvapaddhati and Daśakarmāṇi, Ibid., 35.1 Vide, Bloomfield, M. (ed.), Op.cit., p.94

[4]:

yena vehaditi bāṇaṃ murdhni vibṛhati badhnāti / Kauśika-sūtra, 35.3

[5]:

Ibid., 35.4

[6]:

śamīmaśvattha iti mantrokte’gniṃ mathitvā puṃsyāḥ sarpiṣi paidvamiva / Ibid., 35.8

[7]:

madhumanthe pāyayati / Ibid., 35.9 tatra ādyena tṛcena puṃsavanakarmaṇi śamīgarbhāśvatthāgniṃ madhumanthe prakṣipya abhimantrya striyaṃ pāyayet / Sāyaṇa in his Introduction to the commentary on Atharvaveda, 6.11

[8]:

kṛṣṇorṇābhiḥ pariveṣṭya badhnāti / Kauśika-sūtra, 35.10

[9]:

atra pakṣapañcakānāṃ puṃsavanānāṃ karaṇe phalamādhikyaṃ sakṛt karaṇe saṃskāramātraṃ na tu phalamādhikyaṃ / Vide, Reddy, M. B. Kāṭhapa-saṃhitā (ed.), Op.cit., pp.157, 158

[10]:

catvāryumāphalāni pāṇavadbhiḥ ścotayate / Kauśika-sūtra, 33.17 ūmā vratasī tasyā / Dārila, Ibid.

[11]:

saṃvartamāneṣu kumāraḥ / Kauśika-sūtra, 33.18

[12]:

jīvatpitṛkaḥ jīvasthavirabhrātṛko anyasmin vā sthaviratare jīvati sa brāhmaṇāyanaḥ / Dārila, Ibid., 33.19

[13]:

brāhmaṇāyano aṅgānyabhimṛśati / Kauśika-sūtra, 33.19

[14]:

puṃnāmadheye kumāraḥ / Ibid., 33.20 sa yadi puṃnāmānaṃ pādaṃ pāṇiṃ vā … hanū vā bahukarṇau vā spṛśet / gatakumāra iti vijñeyaṃ / Dārila, Ibid.