Samskaras- Naamakarna

Naamakarna/ Naamkaran (Week 1- Week 2)

The next important Samskara is, Naamakarna/ Naamkaran (naming of the child). There are two purposes of naming the child - the first is that the name is used to address the child, and the second is that the name should raise good feelings inside the person, which reminds him of his goal. That is why in the olden days babies were named after gods or after one of their ancestors. In addition, it is believed that when naming a baby girl the chosen name should be sweet and nice to say as girls in the Hindu household are depicted as Goddess Laxmi. There's a saying in Hindi Ghar Ki Laxmi Betiyaan which literally translates that daughters' are the image of Goddess Laxmi in the house. Mostly when a baby is to be named parents of the newborn consult an astrologist to calculate the first letter of the infant's name in harmony to the infant's birth time, date of birth, day of birth, Raasi (horoscope) and Nakshatra (birth star) as it is believed that for each sign/birth star certain letters are considered auspicious and the first letter of the child's name should start with one of the suitable letters.. Moreover, whenever the child hears the name he will remember the meaning and purpose hidden in it and will be inspired by its meaning.

'Sanskar Vidhi' mentions about naming ceremony that the day and star of the child's birth, the same day and star should be chanted and 4 offerings should be given to the lord of that day and star. In other words, one offering in the name of day, one for lord, one for star and one for the lord of the star.

The naming ceremony should be done on the 11th day after counting 10 days from the date of birth of the child.

*Some parents when naming their newborn often calculate the alphabets in the infant's name according to numerology to ensure that the name is in harmony with the infant's birth number and destiny number. After a suitable name is chosen the elders call the child by the selected name thrice and bless the infant.

Naamakarna

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