Welcome to Our World

It was a quiet morning in my mother's house in South India. My mother, my daughter Tara, and I sat in front of the small altar in my mother's bedroom. Tara--just 28 days old--was on my lap. My mother chanted a mantra to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god Hindus pray to at the start of any new venture, as she waved a shiny brass lamp in a circular motion. Then she put down the lamp, turned to me, and said, "Now you can tell her."

Leaning down, I whispered Tara's name for the first time into her tiny pink ear. Full of milk and relaxed from her recent oil massage, Tara did not stir. My mother and I tied a black cord around her waist to ward off the evil eye.

Tara had received her name.

In the Nair community to which I belong, the baby-naming ceremony, called Namakarana, is simple and brief. Family members are welcome to attend if they can, but their absence does not detract from the ceremony. Although I missed the presence of Tara's father (who could not come because he was in another city) and my two siblings, the small, private ritual was also infinitely satisfying.

The details of the ceremony can vary depending on the community, according to Hindu custom, but it usually takes place in a child's first three months. After the

or worship, of Ganesha, the priest or other officiant usually does a so-called

. (Kalasa is a long-necked brass vessel filled with water scented with saffron, cardamom powder, and edible camphor.) The priest then chants mantras to invoke Varuna, the god of water and rain. Since Varuna is the god of all rivers, including the holy Ganges, this god's blessings sanctify the water in the kalasa. The priest or officiant also invokes gods like Shiva, Durga, Lakshmi, or Vishnu, depending on the family's wishes.

Handfuls of uncooked rice are spread on a banana leaf, and the new mother writes the baby's name on it. Then she lays the baby on the leaf and bends down and whispers the baby's name three times into its right ear. The other family members take turns doing the same. Someone ties a black thread around the baby's waist. After a final

or prayer, all the guests receive some of the sanctified water from the kalasa. The remaining water is used later to bathe the baby.

"Originally, the Namakarana took place on the 10th day after birth," says T.V. Krishnamurthy, a Hindu priest who often performs pujas at the Chinmaya Mission in Los Angeles. "An infant was supposed to start hearing on that day, hence the ritual of whispering its name in the ear," he says. Mr. Krishnamurthy charges no fees for the 10 to 15 Namakarana ceremonies he performs every year in the Los Angeles area.

Baby-naming day is usually also that of the

or the day the child's horoscope is drawn up. "In the past, people did not always write down the time and date of their baby's birth," Mr. Krishnamurthy points out. "Preparing the horoscope on the 10th day ensured that those important details were not forgotten. Nowadays, of course, parents get the baby's horoscope done by computer on the day of the birth itself," he laughs.

Continued on page 2: »