Speaking of high birthrates in literature, many wives in Reza's novels have numerous children. Khairum (khan sahib's wife) has 18 children. Repeated motherhood is not necassarily frowned upon by Reza. However, Chunghtai might have something to say about having too many, as the first few pages of the Crooked Line indicate criticisms for uncaring mothers and indifferent fathers. Furthermore, repeated motherhood has a ruinous effect on women's health. One woman recounts in jeffery's study how plump she was in her youth and that constant worries about feeding the children has taken the rosy colors from her cheeks and how weak she has gotten over the years.
Friday, December 4, 2009
repeated motherhood
For my research I read something interesting about motherhood in India (this is not my topic though). In patricia jeffery's study of the pirzada women, wives of the custodians of the Sufi shrine in a village called Saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, usually have over eight children. The lack of contraceptives, high death rates in infants (and husbands who generally want more children than do their wives) all contribute to the high birth rates (as a side note, this study is published in the 1980s, somethings are not relevant anymore).
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Another element to consider is that breast feeding, if done exclusively, should prevent pregnancy for as long as it's sustained. Even Bari Apa in The Crooked Line comments that all this births could have been prevented if their father had just let Amma nurse. It make you wonder if there was a stigma associated with breast feeding, or if, knowing the preventative effects in had on childbearing, men simply wanted more children. It really seems counterintuitive, though, doesn't it?
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