Garbha-sanskar: A Case Study on India’s Prenatal Traditions

Conception is a remarkable mile stone in the life of human beings, so is pregnancy in the females-The mothers. Since Nature has bestowed the mothers with this responsibility of nurturing the young generations, it becomes the duty as well as responsibility of mother parent to take utmost care of the youngsters. There is no reason to question why nature has chosen females, rather than males, for this singular divine purpose, which should be followed with devotion and precision." It is the biological differences between the males and females selected by nature to optimize the process of reproduction and child bearing. Females are equipped to handle the intricacies of pregnancy and childbirth, whereas males have evolved to contribute through the provision of resources, protection and genetic diversity. Biology and evolution have shaped these roles with social and emotional function of childbearing traits complementing the biological function of childbearing. In this sense, a small mistake or negligence may lead to lifelong sufferings for the new born baby. It is from this point of view that pregnancy being a very crucial period both for the baby and parents and especially the mother, is to be observed and followed prudently. Since very recently one such pregnancy was observed in one of the author’s acquaintances, it was decided to use this experience as a case study, such that it would prove to be an example to be followed globally as well as it would highlight the Indian rituals that are followed during pregnancy in the name of Garbha Sanskar and dohale, or fulon in Goa due to extensive floral decoration or goad bharai- popular in Hindi speaking states of India. The subject of case study of pregnancy was a relative and of acquaintance of one of the authors. The case apparently seemed to be quite normal, however with a small but conspicuous anomaly that was detected during late pregnancy of 30 weeks or so. Using an unstructured interview in a teleconferencing mode, confidential manner and double-blind approach, the qualitative data was collected, analysed and presented in this small article. The readers might feel that this write-up is to signify the case. Yes, it is, but with a strong feeling of importance of Garbha Sanskar that really helped the subject of this study combat pregnancy, delivery and post-delivery nurture and care of the baby as well as self-health. This experience of the subject might also help other pregnant cases, locally as well as globally, because the issue of childbirth with good health is of great importance to mothers, close relatives, and immediate family members. They all hope that the baby will be free from any anomalies that could lead to social stigma. Now, importance and follow up of these rituals is seen with different names in different countries such as baby shower, prenatal blessing ways, birth blessings - depending upon culture and traditions of these different countries.