The Kalaprakasika: choosing times for every part of life · Chapter 2 of 6

#The rites of childhood and learning

Kalaprakasika, chapters III–XII

The Kalaprakasika follows a child from birth to the end of education, giving for each ceremony the good ages, months, tithis, weekdays, nakshatras and rising signs. These chapters are a record of the samskaras, the life-cycle rites of traditional Hindu families in the south, as they were practised.

#The first rites (III)

• The first jewels: on a day ruled by the 5th nakshatra from the child's birth star (III).
• The seventh day: the book describes a protective rite on the evening of the seventh day after birth, when Yama, the god of death, was believed to threaten the child — sweetmeats offered, a water-pot set on palm leaves before the house, mantras chanted, and Yama driven away with strokes of palm leaves and the sound of bells (III). A vivid record of a household custom.
• Naming (namakarana) on the 10th, 12th or 16th day; cradling; the first feeding with milk; the first outing; the first feeding with rice; and the first birthday — each with its favourable times (III).

#Ear-piercing (IV)

On the 12th or 16th day, or in the 6th, 7th, 8th or 10th month; avoid the moment between two nakshatras. Favourable nakshatras: Mrigashira, Ardra, Punarvasu, Pushya, Hasta, Chitra, Shravana, Dhanishta, Revati. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are good; Sunday, Tuesday and Saturday to be avoided (IV).

#Tonsure (V)

The first haircut (chaula), said to prolong the child's life, in the 3rd, 5th or 7th year — the 3rd best — in the Sun's northern course; not while the mother is pregnant, unless the child is over five (V).

#Beginning the alphabet (VI)

In the child's fifth year, in the Sun's northern course (avoiding the month of the Sun in Aquarius), before the sacred thread; the child stands before the teacher, facing west. Good nakshatras: Ashvini, Ardra, Punarvasu, Hasta, Chitra, Swati, Anuradha, Shravana and Revati (VI).

#The sacred thread (VII)

Upanayana in the 5th or 8th year from conception or birth; the 5th "tends to promote intellectual development", the 6th "helps spiritual growth" — "so teaches Shukracharya"; with later ages and different months for the other varnas, as the book records according to the social rules of its time (VII).

#Beginning education (VIII)

The book lists what education includes — the four Vedas, the six Vedangas (among them Jyotisha), logic, Mimamsa, law and the Puranas, and as "secondary learning" medicine, music, finance and arms — and the best nakshatras for starting it: Mrigashira, Ardra, Punarvasu, Pushya, Hasta, Chitra, Swati, Shravana, Dhanishta and Shatabhisha (VIII). It also gives "Saraswata" and "Vidya" yogas — positions of Mercury, Jupiter and Venus favouring learning — and the value of vargottama positions (VIII).

#The yearly renewal and initiation (IX–X)

• Upakarma, the yearly renewal of the sacred thread, at particular full moons (IX), with the rules for intercalary and other special months.
• Initiation into a mantra (X): the effect depends on the month — Vaishakha brings gain, Shravana high status, Ashvayuja well-being, Magha intellectual growth, Phalguna affection; others are unfavourable — with the good nakshatras, and movable rising signs good, dual neutral, fixed "useless" (X).

#The Vedas and the end of studentship (XI–XII)

The times to begin studying the Vedas (XI) and for samavartana, the ceremony that ends a student's life with the teacher (XII).

#Reading these chapters

These rules show how deeply muhurta was woven into family life: almost every step of a child's growth had its favourable moment. They record a living culture. As with all muhurta (The Study of Jyotisha, chapter 39), they cannot be tested in any single life, and no family should feel that a rite performed at an "unfavourable" time has harmed a child.

#Summary

• First jewels, the seventh-day rite against Yama, naming, cradling, first feeding and outings (III).
• Ear-piercing (IV), tonsure (V), the alphabet in the fifth year (VI), the sacred thread (VII).
• Education and its yogas (VIII), upakarma (IX), mantra initiation by month (X), the Vedas (XI) and the end of studentship (XII).

#Exercises

1. On which day was a child named, by the Kalaprakasika?
2. In which year does the child begin the alphabet, and facing which direction?
3. What did Shukracharya teach about the 5th and 6th years for upanayana?
4. What did "secondary learning" (upavidya) include?

Answers: 1. The 10th, 12th or 16th day (III). 2. The fifth year, facing west (VI). 3. That the 5th promotes intellectual development and the 6th spiritual growth (VII). 4. Medicine, music, finance and the use of arms (VIII).