Talk:Dharma sastra-Saṃskāra-Jātakarma

By Jammalamadaka Srinivas & Jammalamadaka Suryanarayana

Sometimes transliterated as: Jaatakarma, Jatakarma

Jātakarma is the fourth saṃskāra to be performed right after the birth of the child. As the name of the saṃskāra itself suggests that is the ritual to be performed right after birth.

Jātē sati yat karma

Jātakarma tataḥ kuryāt putre jāte yathōditam|

Protocols For Jātakarma

The tradition also instructs what to do before the birth.

• A suitable place should be chosen to build a room, before a month of delivery in the southwest corner of a house.
• 'Sūtikā gṛhaṃ', the delivery room should have an even flooring and the door should be situated on the eastern or northern side of the room.
• According to Vaikhānasa Gṛhyasūtraṃ, after building the room, an ox has to be kept there for some days. A special smoke from the sesame seeds and mustard seeds should be spread for purification.
• Before a day or two, the pregnant lady should be shifted to the special room built for delivery. Auspicious musical instruments are played when she is brought into that room.
• Woman, who are experienced in conducting delivery, is expected to accompany her all the time.
• Herbs like Ivy Gourd, Black nightshade, Poison berry etc are used to make a paste, which is applied on the floor of that room. This application is done to eradicate negative energies from that room.

Procedure

Jāte putre pituḥ snānaṃ sachailaṃ tu vidhīyatte|

Kuryānnaimittikaṃ snānaṃ śītādbhiḥ kāryamēva ca|

Right after the birth of the child, the father is instructed to bath with the clothes which he had worn at the time of the news of delivery of the child. This kind of bath is known as 'sachēla snānaṃ / naimittika snānaṃ'.

Mantravat prāśanaṃ chāsya hiraṇya-madhu-sarpiṣāṃ|

The main rituals in this saṃskāra are -

1. Homa of curds with ghee to the accompaniment of mantras
2. Repeating in the child's right ear the word 'speech' thrice
3. to feed the baby a mixture of cow ghee and honey. Both the ingredients are to be mixed with a piece of gold (like ring etc.). The quantity is instructed 'not to be of the same proportions'. That is either honey or cow ghee should be in greater quantity than the other. This mixture is to be fed to the child before the first breast feed.
4. adressing the child with a name which was to be his secret name (nāmanakṣatra)
5. Putting the child to the breast
6. Adressing the mother with certain mantras

Yāvanna cchidyate nālaṃ tāvanna prāpnōti sūtakaṃ| cchinnanālē tataḥ paśchāt sūtakaṃ tu vidhīyatē||

This ritual is instructed to be done before cutting the umbilical cord. Because after cutting the umbilical cord the parents and the paternal fraternity of the born child will attain jātāśaucaṃ, by which they are forbidden to perform any rituals for the next eleven days. Śaucaṃ, a state of purification is also considered as a qualification to perform any karma/anuṣṭānaṃ. Cutting the umbilical cord will not permit him to follow Śaucaṃ.