Indian Medicine (Medicin), translated by C. G. Kashikar c11.19

c11.19

On the tenth day or on the day after the 10th night or on the 12th day the woman is allowed to rise from her bed and the ceremony of naming (nāmakaraṇa) takes place which is described in a manner similar to that in the Gṛhya sūtras². Along with the popular name, the child receives another name which is derived from the constellation at the time of its birth. At times it receives only the latter (Car 4.8.49; Su 3.10.24; AS 6.1.172; AHr 6.1.22 f.). In the fourth month the child is nicely adorned and is taken out of the room in order to worship the gods, corresponding "the first going out" (niṣkramaṇa, niṣkramaṇikā) of the Smṛtis and Gṛhya sūtras³. In the fifth month the child is placed on the floor with the utterance of a saying in which the earth is called upon to protect it like a mother. In the sixth month the first feeding of the child (annaprāsana) is observed as is laid down in the Gṛhya sūtras⁴. With this ceremony begins the weaning off of the child. In the 6th to 8th month, a physician should make a hole in its ears, in the case of a boy in the right first, and in the case of the girl the left, whereupon jewels fixed in a golden ring are hung on the ears. When the child has got teeth, it should gradually be weaned off, and milk (of goat and other animals), light substantial food and sweets etc. should be given to it (AS 6.1.173-5; AHr 6.1.28-40). Su 3.10.52 (cf. AS 1. c. 175) also speaks of the instruction to be imparted to the male children according to their status as soon as they have reached the requisite age and also speaks of their marriage. See § 39.