It is perhaps generally known that a Hindoo girl is married between 9 and 12 years of age--an age when her European sister would not even dream of being united in the bonds of wedlock; and the natural consequence is, she becomes a mother at thirteen or fourteen years. An eminent writer who had studied the subject carefully thus remarks: "Till their thirteenth year, they are stout and vigorous; but after that period, they alter much faster than the women in any of the nations of Europe." Her tender age, her sedentary life, her ignorance of the laws of hygiene, the common dread of childbirth, the want of proper midwives as well as of timely medical aid (should any be necessary), conspire sometimes to cause an untimely death. She must continue to observe many precautions until her accouchement is completed. In the fifth month of her pregnancy takes place her _Kacha Shad_.[130] The day must be an auspicious one according to Hindoo astrologers, and she is treated that day with special indulgence, inasmuch as all the delicacies of the season are given to her without restriction. In the seventh month she is treated with _Bhaja Shad_, when she eats with a few other females (whose husbands and children are all alive) all sorts of parched peas and rice as well as _Methais_ and other sweetmeats; in the ninth month, the _Paunchamrita_[131] ceremony is held, when she is made to wear a red-bordered _Akhanda_ Saree (a piece of cloth ten cubits long with the edges uncut), which is preserved with the greatest care lest any jealous and mischievous woman who has lost her children, should clandestinely cut and take away a portion of the same, which is considered a very portentous omen for the preservation of the new born babe.