"Women who were deemed witches and killed in medieval Europe were actually healers and midwives," says Janet Chawla, a researcher who has examined rituals performed by traditional Indian midwives. "Women were debarred from the study of medicine and a rising male medical profession, in collusion with the Church, participated in this pogrom."

In India, such witch-hunts are rare and traditional skills still survive. Says Chawla, "Ritual materials are offered to the midwife to honour her skills. The practice of asking a woman in labour to symbolically separate wheat signifies the separation of the infant from the mother. Opening locks and shutting windows is similar to giving symbolic permission to the cervix to open in order to give birth." According to her, "The midwife assumes the role of a shaman or a faith healer -- a person who enters into an altered state of consciousness to acquire power to help other people. Rites used during birth are similar to meditative visualisation methods used in the West to treat cancer. The imagery acts as an interface between mind and body.

"Efforts to 'educate' dais have been conducted without real efforts to understand the cultural context in which they work," says Chawla. "Medically, she is perceived as a substandard obstetrician and socially as a 'polluted'."