Ruth S. Freed

Cross-cultural Perspectives on Middle-aged Women [and Comments and Replies]

Several exploratory cross-cultural studies have suggested that positive changes take place in the lives of women in non-Western societies as they age beyond the childbearing years. They are freed from a variety of restrictions. They are given authority over certain specified kinsmen, and they are provided with opportunities for achievement and recognition beyond the household. The fact that such changes are more dramatic in some societies than in others is examined, as well as the reasons for the positive nature of these changes. Psychoanalytic theory, sociobiology, and the works of Goody, Gutmann, and the Whitings all provide useful points of departure for explanations, yet no theory fully accounts for the findings. My own interpretation stresses the relationship of a mother to her adult offspring.

Rites of passage in Shanti Nagar

................................................... 329 Introduction ........................................... 329 Acknowledgments .................................................... 329 A Note on the Transcription of Hindi Words and Nomenclature ....... ............ 329 Money and Measures ............ ............................... 330 Hinduism in Shanti Nagar ............... ............................ 331 Ceremonial Components ................ ........................... 333 Analysis and Interpretation of Rites of Passage ................ .................. 335 Van Gennep ........................................... 339 Freud ........................................... 340 Danielou and Other Sources ............................................ 346 Birth .................................................... 347 Conception ........................................... 347 Pregnancy and Prenatal Care ........................................... 350 Delivery .................................................... 355 Models for Delivery ........... ................................ 360 Twins .................................................... 363 Summary of Prenatal and Delivery Rituals ....................................... 364 Postnatal Events and Care .................................................... 365 Announcement of Birth .................. ......................... 365 Care of Mother and Child During Lying-In .................... ................ 366 Story of Jaswant Singh ................ ........................... 367 Nursing ........................................... 368 Nipple Washing (Chuchi Dhona) ........................................... 369 Nhanbar ........................................... 369 Diet of Mother ........................................... 369 Sleeping Arrangements ................ ........................... 371 Shortened Lying-In and Other Variations ..................................... 371 Sixth (Chhathi) ........................................... 372 Song Session ........................................... 378 Visits to Mother and Child ........................................... 381 Lifting Pollution ........................................... 383 Bathing Mother and Child ........................................... 383 Cot Changing ........................................... 384 Fire Ceremony ........................................... 384 Purification of Household and Incorporation into Community ....... ............ 388 Feast on Tenth Day ............. .............................. 388 Feast to Ward Off Danger ........................................... 388 Worship at Well on Fortieth Day .................................... .... 389 Variations on Well Worship ........................................... 394 Worship of Jahar ........................................... 395 First Haircut (Mandan) .................. ......................... 396 Ceremonies for Safe Passage from Infancy to Childhood ........ ................ 396 Ear and Nose Piercing ................ ........................... 398

Sacred Cows and Water Buffalo in India: The Uses of Ethnography [and Comments and Reply]

In 1958-59 and in 1977-78, we undertook holistic ethnographic studies of a village in northern India. Profound technoenvironmental change occurred in the 18-year period between the two studies. With regard to cattle, the principal change was a shift from bullock power to machinery. This provided the basis for a test of the two principal positions that have been taken in the sacred-cow controversy: (1) technoenvironmental determinism, which denies that religious belief is an independent determinant of Indian cattle demography, and (2) the position that religious belief is one of a number of factors that affect the demography of Indian cattle. Our data demonstrate that belief in the sanctity of the cow significantly influences the demography of cattle in this village. In an attempt to evaluate the sacred-cow controversy, we note two characteristics of its history: First, it appears to reflect a tendency to dismiss obvious explanations in favor of unexpected ones. Second, the lack of relevant field data for deciding the issue suggests a general decline in holistic ethnographic studies. We argue that our article illustrates the usefulness of analytical holistic ethnography.

Urbanization and Family Types in a North Indian Village

This research, based on data collected in a north Indian village, is an analysis of the relationship of family types to a number of variables: caste, type of house, ownership of land, and the urbanization, type of employment, age, and education of the family head. There is no statistically significant difference in family types between families headed by urban-oriented men and those headed by village-oriented men. Type of house, education, and type of employment also prove to be non-significant. Family type is correlated with high- and low-caste status, landownership, and the age of the family head. High-caste landowning families are more likely to be joint than low-caste landless ones. Also, older men are more likely to head joint families than younger ones.

Ghosts : life and death in North India

................................................................. 8 INTRODUCTION ............................................................ 8 Acknowledgments ........................................................... 10 Chapter 1: The Village Setting ............. ..................................... 11 Chapter 2: Basis for the Study of Ghost Beliefs ................................... 15 Definitions of Ghost Illness, Ghost Possession, and Poltergeist Attack ..... ....... 17 Chapter 3: Fieldwork, Techniques, and Problems ................................. 18 Chapter 4: Brief History of the Delhi Region ..................................... 21 Chapter 5: Causes of Death .............. ...................................... 24 War and Other Turbulence ............. ...................................... 25 Famine.................................................................... 26 Disease ................................................................... 28 Chapter 6: Deaths of Females and the Favored Status of Males ..... ............... 32 Biomedical Differences ................ ....................................... 33 Sati ..................................................................... 34 Female Infanticide .......................................................... 37 Female Feticide............................................................. 41 Dowry and Other Murders, and Suicides....................................... 43 Infant and Maternal Mortality ........... ..................................... 43 Chapter 7: Health Culture ............... ...................................... 44 Prevedic Age ............................................................... 45 Vedic Age .................................................................. 46 Ayurveda................................................................... 46 Laws of Manu and Hereditary Diseases ........... ........................... 49 The Arya Samaj ......................................................... 49 Islamic Period .......................................................... 49 Western Influences ......................................................... 51 Chapter 8: Ideology: Sanatan Dharma, Arya Samaj, Eclecticism ...... .............. 54 Chapter 9: Ideological Interviews............................................... 58 Life, Death, Soul ......................................................... 61 Action, Rebirth, Release ..................................................... 63 Chapter 10: Fruit of Action, Fate, Discipline .......... ........................... 70 Believers and Nonbelievers ................................................... 72 Fence Sitters Ambivalence................................................... 72 Jat Viewpoints .......................................................... 74 Discussion in a Chamar Baithak ................ .............................. 74 Jat Children ......................................................... 76 Chapter 11: Ghosthood ........................................................ 80 Ancient Traditions .......................................................... 80 Pan-Indic Beliefs ......................................................... 81 Village Terms for Ghosts..................................................... 82 Becoming a Ghost ......................................................... 84 Chapter 12: Merchant, Muslim, Priest .............. ............................. 86

Bovine Sex and Species Ratios in India [and Comments and Reply]

Despite religious sanctions against the slaughter of cattle, bovine age, sex, and species ratios in all India and Kerala are systematically adjusted to demographic, technological, economic, and environmental conditions. While it is not denied that the apotheosis of cattle has influenced the management of Indias bovine stocks, religious beliefs cannot account for the most important regional and local variations in the utilization of these animals.

Status and the Spatial Range of Marriages in a North Indian Area

From the hypothesis advanced by Miller (1954) that a highly ranked caste will display greater spatial range of intracaste relations than a lowly ranked one, Gould (1960) inferred that the former should establish marital alliances in more distant villages than the latter. He tested this inference in Sherupur, a north Indian village, and concluded that his data supported Millers hypothesis. We have tested the hypothesis with data from Shanti Nagar, a village in northern India, and have found no statistically significant, direct correlation of marital distance and caste rank. When the data were examined from the point of view of two other components of socio-economic status, literacy and landownership, they indicated that the distance at which marriages were contracted varied inversely with regard to status.