4th of 16 sanskars – ceremony to celerbrate the first or the physical birth of the child. (Second birth is the intellectual birth – Upanayana Sanskar.)

Jatakarma is a fourth sanskar of sixteen major Hindu sacraments. This ritual is also known as the birth ceremony of a baby.

Hindu scriptures are deeply developed with a number of rituals and ideologies about many minute details of human life. Jatakarma – the ceremony of birth focuses on the first official postnatal rite of passage for newborns.

Jatakarma is associated with jataka, which means ‘a newborn child’ as per the ancient Sanskrit language. And Jatakarama is a comprehensive term of two Sanskrit words: Jata (literal meaning born, to exist) and Karma (literal meaning action, performance).

In this ritual, the baby’s father places tiny drops of honey and ghee on the baby’s tongue and whispers some chants and god’s name to welcome him into the family. Some communities include extended rituals, Havanas, and celebrations as well to express happiness and gratitude.

This ceremony takes place just right after the birth of the baby, and in some regions, it is performed from the fifth to the eleventh day of the birth.

Jatakarma- the first rite of a newborn baby, is a symbolic gesture to welcome the baby and evoke his sensory organs through honey and ghee.