HI all,
I am a punjabi located in bangalore.Need some help.I want t get MUndan Ceremony done for my 20 month old son.Need some details like:
1. what all shud the ceremony include
2. is there a Hawan
3. what all ingrdients r required for the pooja
4. Any good North indian pandit in bangalore for the same?
5. any good MUndan specialist barber who can do it ?
6. what is ganga Aarti , its performed during mundan

any other additnal info , please send it across
thanks,
Ravina Mom replied. Hi

My co-sis is 7 months pregnant & my daughter is 7 months old as well. Can i perform mundan ceremony for my daughter before my co-sis delivery. We are statying seperately. I prefer to do this function in my new flat after doing kuladeivam pooja. But MIL is insisting to do this ceremony only in kuladeivam kovil & that to after my Co-Sis delivery. My daughter is having very thick hari & quiet long hair hence i want perfom this function as soon as possible. Please advice. Pavan replied. The baby’s hair from the pregnancy period is not strong. To strengthen the hair roots, the head is tonsured. Removal of hair has both a medical and spiritual benefit. Medically, the scalp is nourished with Vitamin D owing to its exposure to the sun. A tuft of hair left at the back of head, known as a \" Shikha\" is believed to help protect that part of our brain which helps our memory. Spiritually, this Mundan ceremony is also supposed to spiritualise the body of the child which was only biological until that ceremony - the Shikha is also supposed to denote the place where, for a pious person, the soul leaves the body at the time of death. A similar ceremony is observed with Chinese and Mongolian children as well. Shaving the head is termed as \" Ayushkarma\" in Sanskrit, the scriptural language of the Hindus. It means enhancing the longevity or the life span of the child. (\" Ayuh\" in Ayurveda also means this). Shaving the head at the right time is hence important among Hindus. Indeed, traditional Brahmins or priests refer to an almanac each time they go to a barber, while orthodox Hindus do not visit a hair salon on a moonless day! Only renounced monks, known as Swamis or \" Sannyasis\" shave their head on the Amavasya (moonless) day. Avoiding shaving at night could be based on hygienic concerns.

Mundan as a ceremony is marked for a male child (even though for girls also some communities observe this practice , which is not wrong). The day for the first shave is calculated carefully by referring to the almanac to make sure it is an auspicious moment ( known as a \" muhurat\" ). It can be done in the 1st year, 3rd year or 5th year of age but it is normally done before the completion of three years of age of the boy. It is all the more important for the traditional Brahmin (priestly) community who are entitled to access to the scriptures through \" Upanayan\" , or spiritual initiation, which commences soon after the Mundan. Without \" Upanayan\" , a boy cannot become a \" dwija\" , or \" twice born\" (somewhat synonymous to the Christian terminology of being \" born again\" ) only after becoming a \" dwija\" through scriptural studies and general education is one entitled to get married.

Thus Mundan starts a chain of auspicious and responsible roles for an individual in human life according to the Hindu way of life. Other non-Brahmin communities in the Hindu faith also have followed this tradition. But the times have changed enormously from those ancient days when the scriptures were strictly followed. Now girls also cut their hair and even go to the extreme of shaving it!

A young boy’s hair can’t be let grown without cutting for seven or eight years anyway. Hence , the earlier the Mundan is performed, the better. If the child ' s whole head cannot be shaven, a partial shaving is usually the solution. If any boy for some reason did not undergo Mundan at a young age, the same has to be observed when he is given \" Upanayana\" or \" Janoi \" - the sacred thread -wearing ceremony.
A boy, unless he has undergone Mundan, is believed to be not entitled to the benefit for chanting the holy, powerful and rewarding Gayatri Mantra of the mother goddess.

A proper Mundan ceremony involves three rituals of about one hour’s duration – the boy’s parents do a \" Ganesh pooja\" (worship of the Hindu God Ganesh) a barber who shaves the child receives some honour and a \" Havan\" (a purifying ritual with a fire ceremony) with devotional prayers known as the Ayushya Homa mantra and Arati concludes the ceremony. This is followed by a feast and the giving of presents which form the social aspect of the Mundan as a Samskar.