Mundan, also called chudakarana or chaula, is the first cutting of a child’s hair, usually the whole head, and one of the best-known childhood sacraments. A tuft (shikha) may be left, depending on the family’s tradition. The ceremony is often held at a temple or a river, with relatives present, and the shaved hair is offered in the family’s custom. Because it is a public event and because the family may travel for it, the date is chosen with some care.
When in the child’s life
The text gives the age and the family’s custom decides. Many families hold mundan in the first, third or fifth year, and some in the seventh. Some hold it along with upanayana, and in that case the upanayana muhurat takes priority. Customs differ on whether the odd or even years are used for a boy or a girl. This page does not choose the year for you. It gives the days on which a ceremony may be held, and you choose among them by the age and custom your family keeps. The sixteen samskaras are described in our samskara series, with a page on chudakarana.
What the Samskara prakarana asks for
The Muhurta Chintamani sets the rules for the sacraments of childhood in its Samskara prakarana. For chudakarana the conditions are as follows.
The month. The verse asks for the northward half of the year, Uttarayana, from about mid-January to about mid-July, except the lunar month of Chaitra. The southward half, from the Sun’s entry into Karka onward, is excluded. We also leave out the Sun’s month in Meena, the Kharmas that most families avoid for samskaras; that is our addition, not the verse.
The nakshatra. The movable nakshatras, Punarvasu, Swati, Shravana, Dhanishta and Shatabhisha; the gentle ones, Mrigashira, Chitra and Revati; the quick ones, Ashwini, Pushya and Hasta; and Jyeshtha. That makes twelve.
The weekday. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
The tithi. The verse leaves out the Rikta tithis (Chaturthi, Navami and Chaturdashi), Pratipada, Shashthi and the parva days (Ashtami, Purnima and Amavasya). Dwitiya, Tritiya, Panchami, Saptami, Dashami, Ekadashi, Dwadashi and Trayodashi of either fortnight are accepted.
The sky. Vishti karana and the yogas Vyatipata and Vaidhriti are avoided. Chaturmas is excluded, and so is the leaped month. Jupiter and Venus must not be combust: Venus within 10 degrees of the Sun while moving direct, 8 while retrograde, and Jupiter within 11 degrees. A day touched by asta at any hour from sunrise to the next sunrise is dropped.
What the table does not check
Two further conditions in the tradition depend on the child and the family, and a general list cannot apply them. One is the family’s own situation: some traditions advise against mundan of the eldest child in a certain month, or while the mother is expecting another child, and families keep these customs differently. The other is the child’s chart. Tarabala looks at the strength of the day’s star for the child’s birth star, chandrabala at the Moon, and the lagna at the hour: the astrologer will usually avoid a rising sign that belongs to the malefic planets, and one that is the eighth from the child’s own. None of that can be known from a table, so please take two or three dates from the list to your family astrologer and priest.
Reading the table
The table is short compared with the one for naming, and that is the text. Mundan is limited to the northward months, to twelve nakshatras and to a handful of tithis, and asta and Chaturmas are excluded as well. You will find days from January to July in each year, and none for the rest of the year. If the child’s age falls in the months with no day, the usual choices are to wait for the next season or to ask the priest whether your tradition allows an exception.
A window is the time inside the day in which every condition holds, and the ceremony does not have to fill it. The tradition prefers the morning, and the hours before noon are usually the most convenient for travel to a temple.
For another city
The days depend on the place, because sunrise and the times of tithi and nakshatra changes do. This table is for New Delhi, and the muhurat finder will work out the same method for yours. The other events are on the muhurat hub, and the panchang of your city shows the details of any day.
Planning the day
Mundan is usually held at a family temple, a river bank or a place of pilgrimage, so travel and the temple’s own schedule decide a good deal. Find the nearest listed day to the time you can travel, and ask the temple what hours it keeps for the ceremony. A first haircut can be tiring for a small child, so many families plan it for the morning, when children are fresh, and bring a change of clothes and something soothing for the scalp afterwards. The hair is offered or immersed according to the family’s custom, and the priest will know what yours prescribes.