Skip to content
Tirtha

birth

Mundan Sanskar

चूडाकर्म संस्कारCūḍākarma SaṃskāraThe rite of the first tonsure, performed in the child’s first or third year

The eighth of the sixteen samskaras. The child’s first hair is offered, and the family gathers to mark that infancy has passed.

From
₹5,100
Duration
1 hr 30 min – 4 hr
Languages
en · hi · bn · mr · gu · ta · te
Performed as
At Your Home · At a Temple in India · Guided by Video
Choose a muhurat

Why this ritual

What the rite is for

Chudakarma is performed in an odd year — most often the first or the third — and always in the first half of the day. The child sits on the lap of the mother or the maternal uncle, facing east. After the sankalp and the Ganesha puja, the head is moistened with warm water, curd and a little ghee, a blade of kusha is laid along the parting, and the first lock is cut. In most families that first cut belongs to the maternal uncle; the barber completes the rest. The hair is not discarded. It is gathered into a leaf or a cloth and offered to flowing water, or buried at the root of a tree, or carried to the family shrine. The child is then bathed, dressed in new clothes, and brought before the elders. What the rite marks is plain: the infant who could not sit up unaided is now a child who can be presented to the family and the deity by name.

Textual basis

Where it comes from

Chudakarma appears in the Grihya Sutras — Ashvalayana, Paraskara and Gobhila each prescribe it in the third year, with the first year allowed by later custom. The Paraskara Grihya Sutra gives the mantras spoken while the water is applied and while the razor is taken up. Communities differ in almost every particular: whether the tuft is kept, who makes the first cut, whether the rite is done at home, at a river ghat or at the kuldevi shrine, and whether it is deferred to a family pilgrimage. Tirupati, Vaishno Devi, Mehandipur and many kuladevata temples are common destinations for a deferred mundan. Your pandit follows your family paddhati; tell us the community and the shrine when you book.

Vidhi

The rite, step by step

Timings are approximate and vary with the pandit's paddhati.

Samagri

What the vidhi calls for

And why each item is used.

  • Kusha grass

    1 bundle

    Three blades are laid along the parting before the first cut, so the blade meets the kusha and not the scalp. It is the detail the Grihya Sutra is most specific about.

    Included in the kit

  • Curd

    200 g

    Applied with warm water before the tonsure to soften the hair, and again to the gathered hair before it is offered.

  • Cow ghee

    250 g

  • Turmeric

    50 g

    Ground with sandal into a paste and applied to the scalp after the bath, which is as much practical as it is ritual.

  • Sandalwood paste

    25 g

  • Roli

    25 g

  • Akshat

    500 g

    The grains must be whole. Broken rice is not offered, and the word itself means unbroken.

  • Kalava

    1 bundle

  • Copper kalash with mango leaves and coconut

    1 piece

  • Palash samidha

    1 bundle

    Palash is the wood prescribed for the samskara havans. It is the item most often unavailable abroad, and the kit carries it.

    Included in the kit

  • New garment for the child

    1 piece

  • Leaf-cup for the hair

    2 piece

    The hair is collected in a leaf-cup rather than a vessel, because it is going to be offered and not kept.

    Included in the kit

Packages

What differs between tiers

Stated plainly: the counts, the number of pandits, and the time it takes.

  • Essential

    The core vidhi with one pandit, performed at home.

    ₹5,100

    Duration
    1 hr 30 min
    Pandits
    1 pandit

    Included

    • Sankalp, Ganesha puja and punyahavachan
    • The tonsure with the prescribed mantras
    • Guidance on offering the hair

    Not included

    • Havan
    • Barber’s services

    at home · guided

  • Traditional

    Most chosen

    The full sanskar with matrika and navagraha sthapana and a havan.

    ₹11,000

    Duration
    2 hr 45 min
    Pandits
    2 pandits

    Included

    • Everything in Essential
    • Matrika and navagraha sthapana
    • Havan with purnahuti
    • A barber experienced with infants
    • Photographs of the rite

    at home · guided

  • Complete

    The sanskar at a temple or river ghat, with the hair offered there and annadana arranged.

    ₹21,000

    Duration
    4 hr
    Pandits
    3 pandits

    Included

    • Everything in Traditional
    • Arrangements at the temple or ghat of your choosing
    • Annadana for twenty-one
    • Recording of the sanskar

    at home · in india

Who performs it

Pandit requirement

One pandit is sufficient for the essential vidhi. Two where a havan is performed, so that one keeps the fire while the other conducts the sanskar.

Questions

What families ask

Choose a muhurat

We will show you the auspicious windows for this rite, in your timezone and in India’s, and why each one was suggested.

Continue

Traditional guidance, offered for reflection. Not medical, legal or financial advice.