Hindus: For the Hindu, religion plays an important part in the context of his family life as also at every stage of the individual’s life, life for him is a round of rituals and ceremonies, and most of the Hindu customs and traditions consist of ritualistic practices related to various religious observances known as samskaras or sacraments. According to the Hindus Dharma-satra, the individual has to pass through many Samskaras which are really Sarira-samskaras for these are intended to sanctify the body (sarira) beginning from the moment the foetus is laid (garbha-dhana) to the death (antyesti) of a person. The number of these Samskaras differs according to different authorities, and some say there are 16 which are compulsory (nitya) and 24 which are optional (naimittika). These are usually conducted under the direction of Brahmans priests who on their part say that they use Vedic text for Brahmans and Pauranic text for others. Of late even the 16 of these sacraments are reduced to half a dozen in most of the Hindu communities, and are observed in respect of birth, thread-girding, marriage, pregnancy and death. A Samskara is usually preceded by or symbolic sacrifice (homa).

Pregnancy and Child-birth: The garbhadhana or the foetus-laying ceremony to be performed at the consummation of marriage derived social significance when child marriage was in vogue. At present the ritual is symbolically included in the marriage ceremony without any bustle.

The grhyasutras prescribed for the benefit of the pregnant woman number of observances of magico-religious nature, and believers in the efficacy of Vedic rites follow them to varying extent. The pumsavana samskara, or the male-making’ rite may be performed during the third month of the wife’s pregnancy, so that the deities governing t he sex of the foetus would be propitiated and a male issue assured.

The jata-karma ceremony may be performed at the birth of the child. Here the father has to touch and smell the child, utter benedictory mantras into its ears expressing his wish that it may be endowed with long life and intelligence. However, the first popular ritual in an infant’s life is the Pancavi and sasthi, i.e. the ritual observed on the fifth and sixth day after birth. On the fifth day a configuration of a betel-nut, rice, folowers, sandal paste and a sickle or a sword arranged on a pat in the lying in room in the name of Pancavi or Mother Fifth is bowed to by the mother with a prayer to save the child from the attacks of evil spirits. On the sixth day, a blank sheet of paper and a reed pen and an ink-stand are set on a stool and worshipped as satvai or Mother Sixth, and a few friends are feasted. Though these worships have no Vedic basis as a samskara they are observed among many castes.

Naming Ceremony: The nama-dheya rite is performed on the tenth or twenfth day after birth of the child when it is given a name. Popularly the ceremony is called barase, and its observance varies according to caste. In higher casts a Brahman is usually called in and he proposes certain names considered auspicious in view of the astro-logical circumstances of childbirth. The family selects one of these names, but usually t wo names and sometimes more are given, one of which is kept for common use and the other for ceremonial use. Th horoscope is usually cast nad read, the name proclaimed, pan-supari and sweets distributed and drums beaten. In some castes a ceremonial ‘cradling’ is held in the evening by women of the house and the ‘naming; celebrated. On this day the child receives gifts from relative in the form of clothes, gold and cash. The karnvedh (piercing of the ear-lobes) ceremony may take place the same morning or may be postponed to the sixth or twelfth month. If the boy is subject to a vow, his right nostril is bored and gold ring put into it. The 12th day is also important in that on this day the mother, who since giving birth to the child was considered unclean, is proclaimed to be clean. On this day the confinement room is thoroughly cleaned, and this is the first day on which the male folk could go to see the mother and the child.

The naming ceremony as observed among the lower castes is much more simple, e.g., among the Mangos the name is conferred by five old women, who, standing in a circle, swing the child in their saris and repeat the name.

Annaprasana: Among better class Hindus a ceremony called Annaprasana celebrates the first feeding of the child. It may take place in the fifth or sixth month after birth but some castes perform the rite for a male child in the seventh month and for a female in the sixth. An auspicious day is chosen, and relaives are ivited who come with gifts for the child. Food which is usually Khir or rice boiled with milk and sugar is put in the mouth of the child with a golden ring or a silver spoon. In some castes the maternal uncle is made to officiate.

Javal: Then comes the hair-cutting ceremony known as Javal. As a samsskara, it is known as cuda-karma, or the first tonsure of the hair for the sake of dharma, and is performed in the first or thiird year, or at any age according to the tradition of the family. At present the rite is gone through prior to upanayana among higher castes; lower castes are much more keen to observe it as a ceremony thinking that the hair the child is born with is impure and must be removed with social celebration.

Thread-griding: The thread-girding ceremony or munja as it is popularly known is prescribed for all Hindus claiming a place in he first three varnas. The ceremony is also called upanayana or the introduction to knowledge since by it the boy acquires the right to read the sacred books. Until this ceremony is performed he is not really a Brahman, is not bound to observed the caste rules and restrictions.

A boy (kumara) undergoes the upanayana at the age of eight or after, eithth, and twelfth years from birth being considered the proper time for the ceremony. There are also rules regarding the muhurtas (auspicious times) to be determined according to the birth stars of the boy. The ceremony always takes place between morning and noon, never after midday.

Preparations may begin a few days before the thread-girding day. Drummers and pipers to play at the ceremony are engaged. A booth or porch is built in which a bahule (decorated platform) is constructed. Invitation cards are sent to distant relations and friends. Kins people and intimates ask the boy to kelavana or congratulatory feast and present him with clothes and money. A formal invitation (aksat) ceremony is held a day or two before the thread-girding when the local temple of Ganapati is visited and the god is prayed tobe present at the thread ceremony; personal invitations are then given to the local friends and relaives.

On the early morning of the lucky day the musicians start playing on the drum and pipe. The ghana ceremony is gone through with the help of not less than five suvasini. Prior to the upanayan ceremony proper, the usual propitiatory rites are gone though with the same procedural details as before the performance of an auspicious samskara. These are Ganapati and Matrka Punana (worship of Ganapati and the matrka deities), Punyahavacana (the holy-day blessing), and Devaka-pratista (installationof devaka). The ceremony of Caula (shaving the boy’s head if it was not performed in childhood is gone through, and the boy is then bathed and taken to the dining hall. There boys called batus, girt with the sacred thread but not marred, are seated in a row and served with food. While they ear, the boy’s mother sitting in front of the batus sets her son on her lap. Feeds him, and herself ears from the same plate. This over, the boy is taken to the barber who shaves all the locks that were left on his head except the top-knot. The boy is then bathed and made ready for the upanayana ceremony.

The boy and his parents enter the booth and take their seats on the three pats (wooden stools )arranged on the bahule. The father begins the ceremony by giving away some cash to make for the neglect in failing to perform the samskaras at their proper time. The father then sits on a pat with his face to the east, while the boy stands before him facing west, and the priests hold between them a curtain marked with svastika (lucky cross) in vermilion. The priests recite mangalastakas (lucky verses) and the guests throw adsatas (rice mixed with kumkum)at the boy and his father. At the proper muhurta (lucky moments). The priests stop chanting. The musicians redouble t heir notes. The curtain is pulled to the north and the boy lays his head on hid father’s feet. The father blsses him and seats him on his right. The guests are then regaled with pan, perfume and rose-water and sweet drink. It is now getting customary for the guests to make some present to the batu (boy) on this occasion.

The upanayana ritual now begins. A vedi (earthen altar) is traced in front of the father, blades of darbha (sacred grass) are spread over it and a homa (sacrificial fire) is kindled on it. Offerings of ajya (ghee), sesamum, and seven kinds of samidhas (sacred fuel sticks) are made on the sacrificial fire. The boy then with folded hands approaches the acarya (head-priest) with a request to make him a brahmacari (Vedic student). The acarya grants him request. He daubs a cotton string in oil and turmeric, ties it round the boy's waist and gives him a langoti (loin-cloth) to wear. He then rolls a yellow panca(short waist-cloth) round the boy's waist and a white one round his shoulder. Another cotton string daubed with oil and turmeric and a bit of deer skin passed into it is hung on the boy's left shoulder. He hands over to him a consecrated yajnopavita (sacred thread) and a danda (staff) of Palas. The boy is made to pass between the sacrificial fire and his father, and sip three acamanas and repeat texts. He then goes back between t he fire and his father and takes his seat. The preceptor then gives the boy a coconut and taking him by the hand goes out of the booth and both bow to the sun. on their return to the seats the preceptor takes the boy's right hand and aska hm to state his name and to say whose Brahmacari he has become. When the mentions his name and says he is his preceptor's Brahmacari, the preceptor lets go the boy's hand, takes him round the sacrificial fire, and seating him by his side drops nine offerings into the fire. He then says to the boy : You have now become a Brahmacari; you must observe religious exactness; you must sip acamana before taking food; you must not sleep during the day : you must control your speech; you must keep alight the sacred fire and cleanse your mouth after taking food. The boy then sitting on the north of the sacrificial fire bows to the preceptor and begs to be initiated into the mysteries of the sacred verse; the boy and the preceptor or father are covered with a shawl and the preceptor thrice whispers the sacred gayatri into the boy's right ear first syllable by syllable, next phrase by phrase and the n the whole verse. The shawl is taken away and all return to their seats, and give blessings to the Vedic student and the father.

The preceptor then makes four offering of samidha to the fire and then the boy makes an offering of one samidha and wipes off his face thrice with words " I anoint myself with lustre and may I Agni and Indra bestow on me insight. Offspring and vigour". The preceptor consludes the sacrifice with the final oblations, and sprinkles sacred water over the head of the boy and in all directions. Money presents are then make to the priests who bless the Vedic student and the father.

At noon, the priest teaches the boy to recite the madhyanha sandhya (mid-day prayer) and in the evening the sayam sandhya (evening prayer). The ceremony of bhiksaval (asking alms) is then held. The boy and his relatives go in a procession to the temple of Ganapati with music and company and on return the boy is seated near the altar. To his mother, who approaches him there the boy says, "Bhavati bhiksam dehi " (lady, be pleased to give alms), and holds a cloth wallet before her. The mother blesses him and puts in the wallet some sweet balls, rice and gold or silver coin. Other married women follow suit to each of whom the boy addresses in the same manner and each presents him some sweet balls and money. The contents (eatables) of the wallet go to the priest who gives part of the sweetmeats to the boy and keeps the rest for himself.

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