Baby Name,Namakarna Function a Tradition in Brahmin Community.

The day the married girl is pregnant her mind's always on the topic of mother hood,pregnancy,safe delivery,being a mother of a boy though she says she wants a baby girl,how to tell her husband though she has no hesitation to tell her mother first,how she will carry the baby for 9 months,9 days,9hours,9 minutes and 9 seconds which is the exact time as per nature law,what feelings she will have during all these loveable period,what dreams she may get,how her known people will tell her it will be a boy few others telling it will be a girl and some wise people saying boy or girl a baby is always welcome and many others giving her many types of do's and don'ts.The boy's parents will start with calculating the approximate day and time,the girl's parents would start making every type and all sorts of preparations to receive their married daughter who will arrive at the 5 th month of pregnancy.which is auspicious according to the tradition,custom and practice followed by generations from the period unknown to many.The scientific reason being that the period at which the soul from another body will enter the womb is during the 5th month as this is felt by the mother when the baby in the womb starts moving its hands and feet.This feeling will not be there prior to the 5th month.There is also another valid reason for the pregnant girl to be with her mother who will take care much better than her husbands mother who is in many case shows much less concern and treats her daughter in law. It is also a practical aspect since the girl will be more at home with her mother than with her mother in law.As soon as news reaches girls mother she is filled with pure joy The next will be a suitable place with comfortable bed and getting her the required clothing depending on the weather that will be for the next 7 or 9 months of he stay as she will be sent back only on odd months the earliest being 3 months after the baby is born.This is mostly followed for the first baby which can go up to the next baby which will be the final in most cases.Now it is the mother and father of the pregnant girl who will discuss and debate day after day so many things that are necessary in such a situation.As per tradition the first thing that they do is to consult an astrologer on probable day the baby will be born which he will calculate correctly if the time when the girl felt the baby move which the girl if advised will note.From this time he will calculate the time and depending on the planetary position he will tell if it is a boy or girl.If it is a girl he may or may not tell.In India scanning is banned but there are some doctors who do it. In our community boy or girl no scanning will be done to make the people happy as most of the people of our community would like to have a surprise leaving the result to God.The relatives and friends will be asked to suggest a suitable name for boy or girl which the family will record and mull over periodically.It will be the responsibility of the girls parents for the next period of over 4 months till the baby is born to make health checks as advised by the family physician.There after will be further responsibilities with the baby in the girls parents home for another 3 or 5 months.During the 3rd or 5th month there will be a function called in Kannada as Namakarna. The boy and girl parents come together and will arrange a aspecious day to Name the baby.The baby will be called by some name till this period.

If a boy or a girl they is born they will be with certain planetary positions,the prominent star at that time of the day or night being considered mostly important.Brahmin's are mostly in one of the Veda's.Rigveda sect are not to perform any Homa and they perform only pooja's to such God as suggested by the family purohit or astrologer.Yajurveda sect must perform Homa also when a fire is made as shown in the picture below. of the Homa where a fire is made by special sticks from a holy tree and in to that goes all satvic food with pure ghee.

No sooner the baby enters the 3rd month or 5th month the baby's grand parents write to the boy's parents that they would love to have the baby's name be announced after a function and they would like to get their views on all the following points:-

1. If they want the day of the function to be a holiday.
2. If they want a Homa or Pooja required and if so what would be their suggestions.
3. How many from their family and their friends be coming.
4. If they would like the lunch from some specific catering persons and the Menu they need.
5. Though this is not a protocol it's just to keep good relations.

In order to make the function a social and enjoyable day it would be so arranged that it will be on a holiday and an auspicious day and would start with breakfast since the invited guests need not bother about breakfast preparation at their homes and would come early so that a get to gather with fellowship would take place.All the guests will come with family only and friends of family hardly come as such functions are with invitations only. A day prior to the function the appointed place which will be a convention or Marriage Hall with suitable place for clean cooking which will be only vegetarian meal and other things like chairs.lights and tables etc etc are fully cleaned and the entire place will be decorated by mostly a event managing agency who will just do anything that is needed for a price.On the day of the function the first to arrive will be the girl's family who will have to see to the pooja and Homa if required is arranged and the pandit with his asstents will come.The guests will start arriving till the meal time.The pooja that will be performed first will be to Lord Ganesh and there after it will be as per the family traditions.The special pooja and Homa will be as per family astrologer's instructions which will be offerings of many satvic items in to the fire for every god who is to be pleased as in the present case they did Homa for all the gods that might be placed in not a favorable place in the baby's horoscope,star at birth and the place of function which is ruled by Vastu in a order that is pre determined for the function they are as under:-

1. Sri Ganapathi Homa
2. Kuladevatha Homa.
3. Navagraha Homa.
4. Shanthi Homa.
5. Ayushya Homa.
6. Amrutha Homa.
7. Mruthunjaya Homa.
8. Janma Nakshatra & Durga Homa

All the above pooja and Homa will take up to 3 hours which will be observed by all the guests untill such time a final pooja with arathi is made.Once the arathi is made holy water as thirtha and prasad is distributed and guests walk to the Dining Hall for feast of tasty mouth watering items for a full four course meal which are all shown in pictures below.After taking the Meal and saying good bye go home.

Most of the guests present their gifts in cash as most of the other items form a junk in the household articles.The re-gifting of gifts becoming a part of getting rid of unwanted gifts that is received by most of the families in one way or the other if received as gifts not only hurts our consciousness but the gift receiver also as he may think of what we did if he gets a clue the we re-gifted a friends gift given to us which is other than cash.The recent trend of opening a bank account in the baby's name to deposit all the gifts received till the baby gets married will be a matured way of savings as parents can also gift the baby by depositing their gifts in cash in baby's account.No one can say no to cash in today's mess in economy and price rise of articles shooting up overnight on day to day basis.Coalgate or Colgate our govt is not budging on their policies and corruption neglect in all offices of Govt all over the country. It is therefore a good idea to start savings once a baby is born as it grows up it will try to get a good habit and will be saving oriented and not spending oriented.Most of the guests will not mention their names and the amount if more we cannot keep it in our bank as it will disappear in no time.