Note 172 — Volume II. (continued 2)

The Mûnran and kanchhedan. 21. In the fifth year the rites of head-shaving (mûnran) and ear-piercing (kanchhedan) are performed. The regular ritual prescribes that the tonsure, shaving and cutting off the hair should be done separately. They were known as chaula, chûdakarma, kesanta, and kshaur. “When performed for the first time they were held to have a purificatory effect on the whole character. In the case of a Brâhman the ceremony of tonsure was performed in the third year, but was often delayed, and sometimes did not take place till the seventh or eighth year. According to Asvalayana the child was to be placed on the lap of its mother to the west of the sacred fire. The father was to take up his station to the south of the mother, holding in his hands twenty-one stalks of kusa grass. He was to sprinkle the head of the child three times with a mixture of warm water, butter, and curds. He was to insert three stalks of kusa grass into the child’s hair on the right side, saying,—‘O divine grass! protect him.’ Then he was to cut off a portion of the hair and give it to the mother with the recitation of various texts, leaving one lock (sikha, chuda) on the top of the head, or occasionally three or five locks, according to the custom of the family.”172 At present it is usual for the Eastern Brâhmans to have this rite performed at some shrine, such as that of Devi of Bindhâchal. For three days before the shaving rite a song is sung in honour of Devi, and many Brâhmans who have lost children, vow that if the life of the last is spared, the mother will carry the whole way to the shrine a clay pot (bursi) full of fire, and will eat nothing on the road but parched grain. When they reach the courtyard of Devi’s temple, they place the fire pot before the Panda, whose parishioners they may happen to be. Next day, after bathing the child in the Ganges, the parents take it to the temple, and the Panda instructs them how to perform the usual circumambulation (parikrama). After this the baby is seated in its father’s lap near the shrine, and a barber shaves its head. A few sweets (laddu) are given to the child, and then a Sunâr comes up from behind and pierces both its ears. They take home with them a striped handkerchief (chundari) which they tie round their necks for good luck, and some sweetmeats, which they distribute among their friends as the holy food (prasâd) of the goddess.