Shilpa Bhakare

Rituals and Practices Attendant to Pregnancy and Childbirth: a Study in Village Janval, India Shilpa Bhakare

Rituals and Practices attendant to Childbirth Pregnancy and childbirth are two arenas where cultural beliefs play an important role. Celebrating pregnancy and childbirth is common in many parts of India, wherein elaborate ceremonies are performed with foods selected to satisfy the capricious appetites of a pregnant woman. Alongside is the active negotiation between the indigenous knowledge on childbirth from the family, elders and traditional birth attendants and the medical and institutional state mechanisms. A qualitative study was done to study the rituals and practices in a village in rural Maharashtra, India. Families preferred to perform the ceremonies associated with infants. The experience of pregnancy and how families prepare themselves for the child birth differs according to social class and caste. Institutional delivery has become the dominant discourse of the State undermining the role of the traditional birth attendants in the village. The traditional rituals of childbirth are more dominant as compared to those associated with pregnancy. The experience of pregnancy and how families prepare themselves for the child birth differs according to social class and caste.