History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.217

v2.c23.217

In modern times on the 5th and 6th days after birth certain ceremonies are performed for which there is no warrant in the sūtras. These probably arose in the times of the Purāṇas, since the only verses quoted on this point in the Nirṇayasindhu, the Saṁskāramayūkha and other works are the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, Vyāsa and Nārada. On these days the father or other male relative bathes in the first part of the night, then invokes Gaṇeśa, and certain minor deities called Janmadā on handfuls of rice and also Ṣaṣṭhīdevī and Bhagavatī (i. e. Durgā) and worships them with sixteen upacāras. Then *tāmbūla* and *dakṣiṇā* are offered to one or more brāhmaṇas and the members of the family keep awake that night with songs (in order to ward off evil spirits). One text from the Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa says 'men fully armed should keep watch the whole night'. It must be noted here that fear springing from astrological considerations got better of even natural love and affection to such an extent that some writers advised that the child when born on certain inauspicious conjunctions should be abandoned and its face should not be seen till at least its eighth year. Vide Nityācārapaddhati pp. 244-255.