13.118
putramata-snanadine, dila vastra vibhusane, putra-saha misrere sammani’
saci-misrera puja lana, manete harisa hana, ghare aila sita thakurani
SYNONYMS
putra-mata—of the mother and child; snana-dine—on the day of bathing; dila—gave; vastra—cloth; vibhusane—ornaments; putra-saha—with the child; misrere—unto Jagannatha Misra; sammani’-congratulating; saci—Sacidevi; misrera—Jagannatha Misra; puja—honor; lana—receiving; manete—within the mind; harisa—pleased; hana—becoming; ghare—home; aila—returned; sita thakurani—mother Sita, wife of Advaita Acarya.
On the day the mother and son bathed and left the maternity home, Sita Thakurani gave them all kinds of ornaments and garments and then also honored Jagannatha Misra.
Then Sita Thakurani, being honored by mother Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, was greatly happy within her mind, and thus she returned home.
PURPORT
On the fifth day from the birth of a child, as also on the ninth day, the mother bathes either in the Ganges or in a sacred place.
This is called niskramana, or the ceremony of coming out of the maternity home.
Nowadays the maternity home is a hospital, but formerly in every respectable house one room was set aside as a maternity home where children would take birth, and on the ninth day after the birth of a child the mother would come into the regular rooms in the ceremony called niskramana.
Of the ten purificatory processes, niskramana is one.
Formerly, especially in Bengal, the higher castes observed four months after the birth of a child as a quarantine.
At the end of the fourth month, the mother first had to see the sun rise.
Later the higher castes, namely, the brahmanas, ksatriyas and vaisyas, observed only twenty-one days as a quarantine, whereas the sudras had to observe thirty days.
For the sections of society known as kartabhaja and satima, the mother of the child was immediately purified after the quarantine by the throwing of hari-nuta, small pieces of sweetmeat, in sankirtana.
Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, with the newly born child, were honored by Sita Thakurani.
Similarly, while Sita Thakurani was returning home, she was also honored by Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra.
That was the system in respectable families of Bengal.