Annaprashan Date Planner from the Birth Date

Annaprashan is the ceremony in which a baby is fed its first solid food, traditionally a little rice, often with ghee, honey or kheer, offered by the parents and elders. It is among the happiest of the childhood samskaras, and families usually want a day when relatives can gather. This planner takes the baby’s birth date and shows the months in which the ceremony is traditionally kept, and the days inside them that meet the classical conditions.

Which months

The common rule is that a boy’s annaprashan is held in an even month and a girl’s in an odd month, starting a little earlier for a girl. That gives the sixth, eighth, tenth and twelfth months for a boy, and the fifth, seventh, ninth and eleventh for a girl. Choose boy or girl above and the planner shows the four windows that apply. Regional custom varies, and some families keep the ceremony at the first suitable time after six months whatever the child, so treat the months as a guide and follow your own family’s practice.

How a month is counted

“The sixth month” is read two ways, and the planner lets you choose. In the first, a baby of six months is one who has completed six months, so the window runs from the day the baby turns six months old to the day before seven months. In the second, the sixth month is the sixth month of life, which is the stretch between five months and six months of age. The first is the more usual way families talk, and it is the default. Whichever you pick, each window is one month long, and windows that have already passed are marked as such.

Which days qualify

Within each window the planner lists the days that meet the rules of the Samskara prakarana of the Muhurta Chintamani for annaprashana. The text favours the fixed, movable, gentle and quick nakshatras, and the weekdays Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It also names the tithis that suit the ceremony, mainly Dwitiya, Tritiya, Panchami, Saptami, Dashami and Trayodashi of either half of the month, with Purnima also allowed in the bright half. For every day it shows the hours in which the nakshatra and tithi hold together, in your local time, with the nakshatra and tithi named. The full list of conditions is in the box under the result.

The tool finds those stretches by reading the Moon, Sun and the other panchang elements from the Swiss Ephemeris tables on this site, so no number has to be copied from an almanac. Because every condition has to be met at the same moment, a month may show a handful of days or only a few, and a very short window may show none.

A practical way to use it

Look at the first window that suits your plans, choose two or three qualifying days that match when relatives can come, and then check the hours shown against the baby’s feeding and sleeping routine. Many families like a morning slot. If the best day is a weekday, a weekend one that falls outside the list is a matter for your family priest to approve rather than something this tool can rule on.

What it cannot tell you

A list like this checks the day, not the child. The family astrologer also looks at the baby’s own chart, and some families fix the day by the baby’s health and readiness. Ask your paediatrician when your baby is ready for solid food, since that is a medical question and the traditional months are only a custom. For a table of days in New Delhi see the annaprashan muhurat guide, for the ceremony read annaprashana in the samskaras, and for any date range use the muhurat finder.

Frequently asked questions