CHAPTER XVI.
Now we shall discuss the Chapter which treats of the piercing and bandaging of the lobules of ears (Karna-Vyadha-Vandha-Vidhimadhyaym).
The lobules of the ears of an infant are usually pierced through for protecting it (from the evil influences of malignant stars and spirits) and for the purposes of ornamentation as well. The piercing should be performed on a day of bright fortnight marked by the auspicious lunar and astral combinations, and in the sixth or the seventh month of the year reckoned from its beginning (Bhádra). The child should be placed on the lap of its nurse, and benedictions should be pronounced over it. Then having soothed it and lured it with toys and playthings, the physician should draw down with his left hand the lobules of its ears with a view to detect, with the help of the reflected sun-light, (the closed up) apertures that are naturally found to exist in those localities. Then he should pierce them straight through with a needle held in his right hand, or with an awl (Ará), or with a thick needle where the appendages would be found to be too thick. The lobule of the right ear should be first pierced and then the left in the case of a male child, while the contrary should be the procedure in the case of a female. Plugs of cotton-lint should be then inserted into the holes of the pricked ear-lobules, which
