Being pregnant, getting a baby is so joyful. Being pregnant, delivering the baby, taking care of the baby is eventful but there are lot of pain, effort and time involved. While being pregnant and delivering the baby, mom's health undergoes lot of hormonal and physical changes which is very difficult to understand by men. Historically, there have been more normal (vaginal) delivery and in the recent decades we are also experiencing caesarian (surgical) deliveries. Both has pain and both needs good amount of recovery time for the mom to get back to routine. In each part of India we eat different food.. more Roti in the north, more rice in the south, more seafood in coastal parts. These were followed for several reasons and primarily due to availability/cultivation at their respective region. After the delivery of the baby, each part of India follows different food restriction and recommendation for the mom which will be helpful for her and the newborn. Most of these food restriction is to reduce any reactions in the body like - to avoid becoming heat, gas, cold.. and the recommendations is to enhance the capability in the body or make them better - to maintain the body temperature, increase fiber. These recommendations are strictly followed for ~45 days by when the mom will be almost recovered.
Usually the food prepared for the moms are with more fat, less spicy/hot, less gastric and fresh for each meal.. I am not an expert in this and don't want to recommend anything to the readers... there were several reasons why this was done and this has been proved to work. These days we hear/see doctors advising moms to have anything they want on the same day of delivery too. Lets see the reasons that our ancestors followed restrictions and do they applicable in current age..
Why/Reasons:
* After the delivery, mom will be very very tired and don't want to mess up with her body anymore. Simple/easy to digest food is better to avoid any medication.
* Mom would have lost lot of blood and will require food that will help her to generate the blood soon.
* With lot of discomforts in her body, its better to avoid gastric food. Since the body is already very weak, upset stomach will make it worsen.
* While breastfeeding baby gets the nutrition and taste. Infant might not be able to handle flavors for a while.
* Helps smoother recovery by improving digestion, decreasing harmful effects.
Now:
* The physical tiredness of the mom and immune system of the baby remains the same at any decade/century. This is already proven and if we follow its only going to help. There are medications available for gastric or indigestion, but is it required will be the question we have for ourselves.
* If not 45 days, try out 30 days and slowly start the regular diet to ensure things are fine.
Why taps outside house ?
We are surrounded by apartment complex and don't see newer independent houses coming along in the neighborhood.. Is it good or bad.. that gets into a separate topic but why did they had taps outside the houses in early days..Yes tap/bucket of water/some means of water available in front and front/back of the house. People getting into the house will freshen up and wash their hands and legs before entering in. This has been there in most of the homes and with the apartment complex where will the water drain ? ;) Jokes apart.. this was required because people were walking bare foot most of the time and they don't want to bring in any infection inside the house. They want to be clean when entering the house so that people in the house are safe. There is also a culture which is still followed where people wash legs and bath in the backyard if they go to death..or the house where someone died recently. To keep themselves and environment clean this has been followed and more apparently because the bathrooms were outside the house. It is also common to bath in the backyard after having a haircut/shaving. People who live close by to river/lake will even go to river after their haircut for bathing. Its also a habit for the guests to use the tap before getting into house. This is also similar to what they do in the temples and most of the temples still have this available.
Why/Reasons:
* To keep environment clean and eliminate any infection due to their job/visit. Straight and simple :-)
Now:
* Most of us don't walk barefoot. If we wear shoes, this will not be necessary unless shoes are so dirty.
* With the apartment, we don't have backyard or taps in front of the house. If we have a tap, me and my neighbor will be watering each others hallway.
* If you use hand sanitizer outside your home you protect yourself from infection but when entering the house it will feel better to use the bathroom to eliminate the infection.
* Making this as a habit for everyone will make sure kids do this when they are back from school or playground.
Why/Reasons:
* To keep environment clean and eliminate any infection due to their job/visit. Straight and simple :-)
Now:
* Most of us don't walk barefoot. If we wear shoes, this will not be necessary unless shoes are so dirty.
* With the apartment, we don't have backyard or taps in front of the house. If we have a tap, me and my neighbor will be watering each others hallway.
* If you use hand sanitizer outside your home you protect yourself from infection but when entering the house it will feel better to use the bathroom to eliminate the infection.
* Making this as a habit for everyone will make sure kids do this when they are back from school or playground.
What is Theetu
Theetu in simple terms is unclean (or at certain times unholy). It can be due to multiple factors - child birth, death of a family member or menstrual cycle. All of these have certain reasons on why they are termed as unclean or unholy. For any of the unclean or unholy classification, the number of days to observe it varies and there are certain rituals followed for each of them. There are certain rituals done after the unholy days gets over. I don't want to get into the why part of these in this post as I wanted to explain each of them separately.
Some of the theetu will have the individual not to have physical contact with anyone and some has restrictions on not to have physical contact with anyone that is not a family member. During theetu, the individual cannot go temple or religious functions happening in public places. Number of day of this observation varies depending on the reason. It has been very well defined by our ancestors where number of days will change if the birth is for a close relative or distant relative, perosn is married or unmarried, if its boy or girl. Since it was always joint family with all siblings living together earlier, the close relatives will be staying in the same house and that is the reason for defining number of days for each circle of relatives. Traditionally, Hindu women keep their hair braided, combed but those who have theetu, can leave their hair free, unbraided (free hair).
Child Birth
Child birth is typically applicable to mother, father, parents and close relatives. During this time they should not enter prayer room or temple, if possible not into kitchen too.
Why/Reasons:
*Mom is really really weak after the delivery and will not be in a situation to do anything, need rest and have to take care of the new born.
* New born baby will have to build the immune system and any small thing could infect the baby. Its safe for the baby to be with the mommy. Breast milk will help baby to strengthen its immune system.
Now:
*New born baby and the mom’s body are same always and there are no different from the olden days. They need rest and bonding.
*Even though there are sanitizers, hygiene environment and others, new born babies are susceptible to infection and its better they build immune system before getting into public.
* Earlier with the joint family the close relatives of the mom will have more observable days than the dad. This is because the baby delivery will be handled in mom’s place. With the current age, if its not a joint family and if the relatives are not close by, the observation of days need not be serious.
Menstrual Cycle
During her menstrual cycle, the girl must not have physical contact with anyone and not enter into kitchen, prayer room, or to temple.
Why/Reasons:
* The reason for observing this is to give some rest to the women. During this state, the women would have lost lot of blood, energy and will be really very weak.
* During this period/state, the risk of infection is high. Quarantine during this period will reduce the infection risk for the women.
Now:
* In olden days the women would use cloth instead of sanitary napkins and was not in a hygienic environment. Now, there is better hygienic environment and need not really be isolated.
* Isolation is one thing but with the loss of energy, they need rest. Its better that they have the sake of this to get some rest.
Death
During a family member death, the family and close relatives must not have physical contact with anyone and not enter the kitchen, prayer room, temple. Until the funeral is done, they don't cook food at the house.
Why/Reasons:
*After death the body will start decomposing and the environment will not be clean. This will spread infection in the environment.
Now:
*The process of decomposition of human body is hard to be controlled and the environment is not going to be clean. Family members observing the days should be serious.
*If non family member or anyone visit their house, they should continue the observation of bathing before entering into his own house. That will help in sanitizing his environment.
*With the current age, if the relatives are not close by, the observation of days need not be serious. This is because there are no way the person gets into the unhygienic environment.
There are several more reasons but these basic ones explain that the observation of days were meant for the hygiene and safety. It was not created just for the name sake. We could see that if these were not observed there might have been few more diseases, more ill people around the world. These are not followed just in India and there are several other parts of the world where they follow similar observations.
Some of the theetu will have the individual not to have physical contact with anyone and some has restrictions on not to have physical contact with anyone that is not a family member. During theetu, the individual cannot go temple or religious functions happening in public places. Number of day of this observation varies depending on the reason. It has been very well defined by our ancestors where number of days will change if the birth is for a close relative or distant relative, perosn is married or unmarried, if its boy or girl. Since it was always joint family with all siblings living together earlier, the close relatives will be staying in the same house and that is the reason for defining number of days for each circle of relatives. Traditionally, Hindu women keep their hair braided, combed but those who have theetu, can leave their hair free, unbraided (free hair).
Child Birth
Child birth is typically applicable to mother, father, parents and close relatives. During this time they should not enter prayer room or temple, if possible not into kitchen too.
Why/Reasons:
*Mom is really really weak after the delivery and will not be in a situation to do anything, need rest and have to take care of the new born.
* New born baby will have to build the immune system and any small thing could infect the baby. Its safe for the baby to be with the mommy. Breast milk will help baby to strengthen its immune system.
Now:
*New born baby and the mom’s body are same always and there are no different from the olden days. They need rest and bonding.
*Even though there are sanitizers, hygiene environment and others, new born babies are susceptible to infection and its better they build immune system before getting into public.
* Earlier with the joint family the close relatives of the mom will have more observable days than the dad. This is because the baby delivery will be handled in mom’s place. With the current age, if its not a joint family and if the relatives are not close by, the observation of days need not be serious.
Menstrual Cycle
During her menstrual cycle, the girl must not have physical contact with anyone and not enter into kitchen, prayer room, or to temple.
Why/Reasons:
* The reason for observing this is to give some rest to the women. During this state, the women would have lost lot of blood, energy and will be really very weak.
* During this period/state, the risk of infection is high. Quarantine during this period will reduce the infection risk for the women.
Now:
* In olden days the women would use cloth instead of sanitary napkins and was not in a hygienic environment. Now, there is better hygienic environment and need not really be isolated.
* Isolation is one thing but with the loss of energy, they need rest. Its better that they have the sake of this to get some rest.
Death
During a family member death, the family and close relatives must not have physical contact with anyone and not enter the kitchen, prayer room, temple. Until the funeral is done, they don't cook food at the house.
Why/Reasons:
*After death the body will start decomposing and the environment will not be clean. This will spread infection in the environment.
Now:
*The process of decomposition of human body is hard to be controlled and the environment is not going to be clean. Family members observing the days should be serious.
*If non family member or anyone visit their house, they should continue the observation of bathing before entering into his own house. That will help in sanitizing his environment.
*With the current age, if the relatives are not close by, the observation of days need not be serious. This is because there are no way the person gets into the unhygienic environment.
There are several more reasons but these basic ones explain that the observation of days were meant for the hygiene and safety. It was not created just for the name sake. We could see that if these were not observed there might have been few more diseases, more ill people around the world. These are not followed just in India and there are several other parts of the world where they follow similar observations.
Indian Myths - Getting Started
There have been quite many Indian myths that were followed by our forefathers, ancestors and quite many by ourselves in day to day life. For some of these myths we knew there are lot of scientific reasons. In this website, I will try to bring them all that I am aware of so that we learn about the reasons and not just ignore them.
If our ancestors were able to identify the solar system long ago and wrote the calendar system with Panchangam, we know how much of knowledge they had. There were no satellites or telescope used to determine these for them. There were certain things followed by them which were applicable for those days but some of them are even applicable to us at this point of time. Why not go through the journey of what they did and why they did.. So that we have reason to follow them.
Understanding and learning these myths is very important to us for these reasons,
Teach our Children
when our child asks why this is done or when the child learns from us/others, we should have a good reason to explain them. This will help us to teach the children of how intelligent their ancestors were with the limited resources they had with them. Also, not to get embarrassed by their questions :)
Superstition
There are quite many people who don't believe in these myths and always think of others following it are superstitious. If there are reasons to prove that things were done that way because that's the best way of doing it then it makes things clear.
Follow what is applicable for now
Not all can be followed at this age but take whichever is applicable for now and follow them. It might bring us good habits and can make life better.
There are quite many more reasons but lets keep these as top 3.
Lets start the journey of learning and discussing myths..and their scientific reasons...
If our ancestors were able to identify the solar system long ago and wrote the calendar system with Panchangam, we know how much of knowledge they had. There were no satellites or telescope used to determine these for them. There were certain things followed by them which were applicable for those days but some of them are even applicable to us at this point of time. Why not go through the journey of what they did and why they did.. So that we have reason to follow them.
Understanding and learning these myths is very important to us for these reasons,
Teach our Children
when our child asks why this is done or when the child learns from us/others, we should have a good reason to explain them. This will help us to teach the children of how intelligent their ancestors were with the limited resources they had with them. Also, not to get embarrassed by their questions :)
Superstition
There are quite many people who don't believe in these myths and always think of others following it are superstitious. If there are reasons to prove that things were done that way because that's the best way of doing it then it makes things clear.
Follow what is applicable for now
Not all can be followed at this age but take whichever is applicable for now and follow them. It might bring us good habits and can make life better.
There are quite many more reasons but lets keep these as top 3.
Lets start the journey of learning and discussing myths..and their scientific reasons...