What is mundan, a child's first haircut?

Grihya Sutras of the Rigveda (Ashvalayana and Shankhayana)

Ashvalayana sets the haircut in the third year, “or according to the custom of the family”; Shankhayana says after one year, or in the third year. Vessels of rice, barley, beans and sesame stand by the fire, and the child sits on the mother's lap. The father mixes warm and cold water with butter or curds, wets the hair, lays kusha grass in it and cuts it with a copper razor, with verses that ask for a long life. Each cut lock goes to the mother. A barber finishes, and the hair is arranged as the family's custom is. For a girl the rite is done without the verses.

Sources for this reading

• Ashvalayana Grihya Sutra 1.17, in Hermann Oldenberg (tr.), The Grihya-Sutras, Part I (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 29, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886): “In the third year the Kaula (i.e. the tonsure of the child's head), or according to the custom of the family”; the vessels of grain, the warm and cold water, the copper razor, the locks given to the mother; “Let him have the arrangement of the hair made according to the custom of his family”; “The rite only (without the Mantras) for a girl.” Oldenberg died 1920: public domain. Page 184 checked on the page image. (pp. 184–186 (leaves n195–n197))
• Shankhayana Grihya Sutra 1.28.1–2, in Oldenberg (tr.), The Grihya-Sutras, Part I (SBE 29, 1886): “After one year the Kudakarman (i.e. the tonsure of the child's head); or in the third year”. Public domain. (p. 55 (leaf n66))

Grihya Sutra of the White Yajurveda (Paraskara)

Paraskara sets the haircut when the child is one year old or before the end of the third year, or when each family holds it auspicious. The mother bathes the child, dresses it in new clothes and sits with it west of the fire. The father combs the hair with a porcupine quill, puts young kusha shoots into it and cuts it with a copper razor, on the right, at the back and on the left. The barber then shaves the head, and the locks that are left are arranged as the family holds auspicious. The hair is hidden in a cow-shed, in a small pond or near water, and the teacher receives a gift.

Sources for this reading

• Paraskara Grihya Sutra 2.1, in Oldenberg (tr.), The Grihya-Sutras, Part I (SBE 29, 1886): “When (the son) is one year old, the Kudakarana (i.e. the tonsure of his head, should be performed), or before the lapse of the third (year)”, “or, according as it is considered auspicious by all (the different families)”; the porcupine's quill, the kusha shoots, the copper razor; “The locks of hair which are left over, are to be arranged as it is considered auspicious (in his family)”; the hair hidden “in a cow-stable, or in a small pond, or in the vicinity of water”. Public domain. (pp. 301–303 (leaves n312–n314))

Grihya Sutras of the Samaveda and the Black Yajurveda (Gobhila and Apastamba)

Gobhila sets the haircut in the third year, by a fire east of the house, with vessels of rice, barley, sesame and beans, and the barber present. Apastamba also sets it in the third year, under the Punarvasu nakshatra. The father combs the hair with a porcupine quill, kusha blades and a bunch of unripe udumbara figs, and arranges the locks in the fashion of the family's rishis, the sages of its gotra, or by the family's custom.

Sources for this reading

• Gobhila Grihya Sutra 2.9.1–7, in Hermann Oldenberg (tr.), The Grihya-Sutras, Part II (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 30, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1892): “Now follows the tonsure of the child's head, in the third year”, the fire east of the house, the vessels of grain, the barber. Public domain. (pp. 60–61 (leaves n103–n104))
• Apastamba Grihya Sutra 6.16.3–7, in Oldenberg (tr.), The Grihya-Sutras, Part II (SBE 30, 1892): “In the third year after his birth the Kaula (or tonsure is performed) under (the Nakshatra of) the two Punarvasus”; the locks arranged “in the fashion of his ancestral Rishis, or according to their family custom”. Page 283 checked on the page image. Public domain. (pp. 283–284 (leaves n326–n327))

Dharmashastra (Manu)

The Manusmriti says the haircut is to be done in the first or the third year, “according to the teaching of the revealed texts”. The verse gives its reason in one word, dharmatah, which Bühler translates “for the sake of spiritual merit”. Some of the old commentators explain that word as “according to the law of the family”.

Sources for this reading

• Manusmriti 2.35, in Georg Bühler (tr.), The Laws of Manu (Sacred Books of the East, vol. 25, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1886): “According to the teaching of the revealed texts, the Kudakarman (tonsure) must be performed, for the sake of spiritual merit, by all twice-born men in the first or third year”; Bühler's note: Narayana and Nandana explain dharmatah “by ‘according to the law of the family’”. Bühler died 1898: public domain. (p. 36 (leaf n178))

Family custom in Gujarat

A record of Gujarati Brahmin families from 1920 places the haircut at an auspicious time between the ages of three and five, on a day the family priest chooses. Some families go to a set place: an ancestral home, or a place the mother has vowed to visit. Ganesha is worshipped first, so that the rite goes forward without obstacles, and Vedic verses of blessing are recited. The priest cuts the first locks with verses and the barber shaves the rest, leaving the top-knot. The child is bathed, and the hair is put in a river or a well, or in a cow-shed. The record says the rite was not usually done for girls there.

Sources for this reading

• Margaret Stevenson (Mrs Sinclair Stevenson), The Rites of the Twice-Born (London: Oxford University Press, 1920), chapter 1, “Birth and babyhood”: the hair-cutting at an auspicious time between three and five; particular places, ancestral homes or a mother's vow; the day chosen by the family priest; Ganapati worshipped first; the priest's cutting, the barber's shaving, the top-knot kept; the hair put into a river or a well, or in a cow-stall; not usually for girls. Stevenson died in 1957 (Library of Congress name authority n86817364): the book is public domain in the US and India, but in copyright in the UK, the EU and Australia until December 31, 2027. Cited only: facts restated in our own words, nothing quoted; the author's own judgements are not repeated. Page 20 checked on the page image. (pp. 20–23 (leaves n47–n50))

Family custom in Kerala

A 1906 record from Travancore says that among Nambudiri Brahmins the haircut, chowlam, is done for both boys and girls, in the third or the fifth year. For a boy it fixes the tuft of hair, the kudumi; for a girl only one or two hairs are clipped. The child is then anointed with oil and bathed.

Sources for this reading

• The Travancore State Manual, by V. Nagam Aiya, vol. II (Trivandrum: Travancore Government Press, 1906) (Nambudiris, “Chowlam or Tonsure”, p. 256 (leaf n295), checked on the page image)

Family custom in Mysore (Kannada country)

A 1928 account of Brahman families in the Mysore State, in the Kannada country, sets the first haircut (chaula) usually in the third year, and in any case before the upanayana. It says the rite was then done for boys only, and that the number and the place of the locks left depend on the family's custom. The child sits on the mother's lap. The father wets the hair, lays blades of darbha grass in it, and cuts their tips and a little hair with a copper razor, with verses that ask for a long life, and hands them to the mother. The barber finishes the shaving. The child's maternal uncle carries away the plate with the hair. After a bath the child is taken in procession to a temple and then home, and a feast follows.

Sources for this reading

• H. V. Nanjundayya and L. K. Ananthakrishna Iyer, The Mysore Tribes and Castes, vol. II (Mysore, 1928), “Brahman”, Chudakarma (Chaulam): generally the third year, before the upanayana; done for boys only in practice; locks left by family custom; the copper razor and darbha; the maternal uncle removes the plate with the hair; procession to a temple. Public domain. Summarised in our words. (pp. 383–385 (leaves n477–n479), checked on the page images)

Sources

• Manusmriti 2.35, in Georg Bühler (tr.), The Laws of Manu (SBE 25, 1886): the haircut in the first or third year. Public domain. (p. 36 (leaf n178))
• Paraskara Grihya Sutra 2.1.4 and 2.1.22, in Oldenberg (tr.), The Grihya-Sutras, Part I (SBE 29, 1886): the time and the arrangement of the locks follow what each family holds auspicious. Public domain. (pp. 301 and 303 (leaves n312, n314))

Samskaras and family rites

Muhurat rules for this rite, and windows for your city. Every date is computed by our calendar, with its rule and source named. The family priest’s choice comes first.

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