Namakaran Puja

Namakaran Puja is the naming ceremony of a newborn baby. It is performed to formally keep the child’s name as per the starting word of the name suggested by panditji based on the Nakshatra of the baby. Namakaran Puja is a ritual of providing Samskaras to the child, which is considered to be of utmost importance in shaping the character and upbringing of a child.

This ceremony is usually performed on the 11th day, In case the ceremony could not be performed on that day then it must be done after three months or on the baby’s first birthday.

The ceremony is performed by panditji starting with Gauri Ganesh Puja, Kalash Puja, Punyaha Vachanam, Namakaran is done by whispering the child’s name in the right ear and chanting of vedic mantras and a havan is performed for the graha shanti of the baby,

When to Perform Namakaran Puja?

Namkaran Puja or naming ceremony is usually performed on the 11th day after the birth of the baby as per the Muhurth suggested by panditji.

Benefits of Namakaran Puja :

• The official name is required for identification of an individual and also during sankalp purposes.
• Grah Shanti is performed for getting rid of grah dosh.

Being named is one of the most important things in one’s life and especially in Hindus. This procedure is done by an important puja for new born or we can say that it is their first religious puja. The word Namakaran itself says its meaning that is Naam means Name and Karan means to make or to effect. Hence the word Namakaran means to decide and affect the name of a new born child. In this Namakaran puja all the family members gathers for a joyous celebration and to welcome a new member in the house and gives his/her blessings. The main significance of this Namakaran puja is a religious practice of initiating a child into a religion and at the same time reminding the parents of the newborn child their duties and responsibilities. It is called the first sanskar among sixteen for a new born. Vedas and Sutras provide certain guidelines which are to be followed while naming a child. These are a name should be easy to pronounce and sound pleasant, the name should indicate the sex of the child, it signify the stature and social standing of the family. Apart from these the name should contain specific number of vowels and letters as per the sex of the child. There are a number of benefits of this namakaran sanskar. Few of them are it iIncreases the auspiciousness of the name selected for the child, brings good luck, fortune and success in life, nullifies negative effects of the name, to wipe off any sin generated from ovum and passed on to the fetus. Additionally the most important is it increases the lifespan of the child.

This puja can be carried out either at mandir or at home in a small private ceremony that includes the presence of family members. Its procedure starts with baby’s bath and his/her dressing fresh new clothes. Then we placed the in the lap of either father’s or a maternal uncle’s lap. Then the puja begins with chanting the mantras and drawing child’s horoscope while praying to Lord Ganesh for his well-being and long and happy life. The father or the maternal uncle then whispers the select name into the baby’s ears, while holding either a real or silver betel leaf, or Kusa grass to guide the whispers in the child’s ear. All these things vary from region to region.