When Birth Belonged to Women: Stories of Dais and Displacement #GenderEquality

“We did not have machines, but we had hands that knew. We watched the mother, not the monitor. We sang to her, held her, stayed with her—not for money, but because birth is not a job, it is a responsibility.” — Rokeya Bibi, retired dai from Murshidabad district

Before hospitals, ultrasounds, and epidurals, childbirth across the Indian subcontinent was a home affair, surrounded by women, rituals, and the indigenous knowledge of the traditional midwives. These midwives, known as ‘dais,’ often lacked formal education, yet it was their practiced hands that birthed generations of young Indians. In regions like West Bengal, their role extended far beyond assisting in births, they were integral to the cultural and moral upbringing of the child. Unfortunately, as biomedical science grew by leaps and bounds, the local knowledge systems were slowly marginalized, as is the case with most indigenous practices.

However, today, when there is a reawakening to the importance of well-rounded, culturally-embedded care, these stories of midwives and their efficiency offer profound lessons—not only about childbirth, but also about community, care, and the underappreciated genius of women’s intuition. Across India, births were handled by experienced midwives who had learnt their craft through apprenticeship rather than training. These dais assisted in all stages of childbirth—from recognizing early signs of labour, positioning the mother for comfort and ease, cutting and tying the umbilical cord with a sterilized sickle—to guiding postpartum care for mother and the babies. The skilled midwives were mostly from marginalized caste backgrounds, especially in rural areas. Their position in the social fabric provided an interesting duality: they were subjects of social stigma, yet essential—no baby could enter the world without them to guide the process.

West Bengal: The Dai as Ritual Healer and Skilled Professional

In West Bengal, the traditional midwifery had its unique flavour. Here, the dais operated not just as birth attendants but also as ritual guardians, particularly in the districts of Birbhum, Nadia, and the 24 Parganas. They would often invoke deities, especially Shashthi Maa, through songs and mantras to aid in and ensure seamless childbirth. They would also instruct the use of ‘shital pati,’ cow dung-coated birthing rooms, dietary restrictions, and body-wrapping both as a means of ensuring hygiene and as signs of symbolic purity. In Bengal, childbirth was more than a medical event—it was a passage drenched in social, cosmic, and emotional meaning. The women viewed motherhood and its various steps as rites of transformation—a shared experience savoured only by the women.

Dismantling a System Through ‘Modernisation’

As colonial and post-colonial views gained traction, midwifery was increasingly viewed with suspicion. The British authorities advocated “clean” and “scientific” methods of childbirth in institutional settings.

The newly independent India saw programmes like Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) and Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) further institutionalise childbirth. Midwives were pushed aside by auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs), and modernization trampled all over ancient knowledge. This shift brought with it social distortions, involving aspects such as control, class, caste, and gender.

Once a woman-led affair, childbirth increasingly became a domain of male doctors, hospital beds, and vertical hierarchies. However, there have been studies that show institutional setups do not automatically ensure trouble-free births. Further, most rural women are still apprehensive of the institutional set-up and miss out on the postpartum care that dais provided for weeks, but is simply not an option with formal systems.

A Future Where Both Worlds Can Meet

In recent years, however, there has been a renewed interest in traditional midwifery knowledge and attempts to integrate it with modern maternal care. NGOs like Chetna Manch and Sakhi Trust have spearheaded this movement. In West Bengal, too, there are ongoing attempts by universities like Jadavpur University and Viswa-Bharati to document and preserve the memories and skills of retired dais before they are lost forever. In rediscovering the ancient genius of dais, we have also learnt a few more things about the technique of midwifery—such as how dais were often emotional anchors for first-time mothers, how ancient birthing process was a community event surrounded by women, songs, and comfort, and most importantly, how healing did not end with the birth of the baby—postpartum care was just as important.

On a brighter note, India’s maternal mortality has indeed been steadily declining, thanks to access to formal healthcare, but numbers do not tell the entire story. The lack of culturally sensitive care, especially among marginalized communities, means that there is still a substantial trust and compliance gap that needs to be bridged. This can be done by integrating traditional knowledge into modern systems: where midwives can be trained in obstetrics and traditional care, where safe home-births are valid and supported options, and where postpartum care is again given the importance it rightly deserves. Dais can become carriers and preachers of their dying craft, therebyensuring that maternal care is not only safe but also deeply rooted in cultural understanding.

The Wisdom We Left Behind

Traditional midwifery in India has different stories to tell. In West Bengal, for example, these stories go far beyond childbirth, they are remnants of knowledge that we overlook in our technology-centric approach to measuring care; they are documentations of women’s wisdom, caste knowledge, and rural knowledge—of little importance on paper, of great relevance in the workings of life. As India forges ahead in healthcare innovation, revisiting these indigenous knowledge systems does not mean we are moving backward. It means we are accepting all that was wise, human, and healing, improving them with all the modern knowledge we possess now, and letting this improved knowledge system guide us on our path ahead.