Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 27.djvu/509

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SECT. II.
THE NÊI 𝖅EH.
475

(the ruler) laid his hand on its head, and with gentle voice named it The other observances were as before, but without any words.

25. In naming a son, the name should not be that of a day or a month or of any state, or of any hidden ailment[1]. Sons of Great and other officers must not be called by the same name as the heir-son of the ruler.

26. When a concubine was about to have a child, and the month of her confinement had arrived, the husband sent once a day to ask for her. When the son was born, at the end of three months, she washed her mouth and feet, adjusted herself early in the morning and appeared in the inner chamber (belonging to the wife proper). There she was received with the ceremonies of her first entrance into the harem. When the husband had eaten, a special portion of what was left was given to her by herself; and forthwith she entered on her duties of attendance.

27. When the child of an inferior member of the ruler's harem was about to be born, the mother went to one of the side apartments, and at the end of three

months, having washed her head and person, and


    lung editors clearly establish this point. Kǎng Hsüan took a different view, saying that ' "the (second) son" was a brother of the heir-son (in paragraph 23), and "any other son" a son by a concubine,' and P. Zottoli adopts this view:—"Reguli haeres (世子), ejus germanus frater (適子), a subnuba filius (庶子);" adding, "Regulus excipiebat primum in praecipua diaeta (路寢); secundum in postica diaeta (蒸寢), quae hie exterior dicitur relate ad adjacentes aedes, quibus nobilis puerpera morari solebat; tertium excipiebat in adjacentibus aedibus (側室)." But these "side apartments" are not mentioned till paragraph 27.

  1. See page 78, paragraph 42.