The child's sanskars
The shastra counts sixteen sanskars. Eight of them fall in childhood — and in each, some one thing is read from the kundali. That is what is written here: which sanskar when, what happens in it, and what jyotish is used for in it.
The first sanskar, performed on the newborn. A swastika drawn on the tongue with honey and ghee, and the first mantra spoken into the ear.
Please note: Doctors are clear that a baby under one must not be given honey (the risk of infant botulism), and that for six months there should be nothing but breast milk (or formula if the doctor advises) — no water, ghee or ghutti. Keep the rite symbolic; nothing should go into the baby's mouth. First comes skin-to-skin and breastfeeding within the first hour — the first yellow milk (colostrum) is the baby's first food; do not throw it away. The birth vaccines (BCG, polio, hepatitis B) are given before leaving hospital.
The child is given a name. It is called out for the first time before the family, the priest and the relatives.
Please note: Keep it small for a newborn: everyone washes hands before holding the baby, no kissing the face, and anyone with a cold, cough or cold sore stays back.
The child is taken out of the house for the first time, into open air and before the sun and moon.
Please note: A short outing in the shade: under six months keep the baby out of direct sun — a light covering and a cap — and never turn the face to the Sun.
Solid food — kheer or rice — is given into the child's mouth for the first time.
Please note: Doctors advise starting soft solid food at six full months; if the muhurta for the rite falls later, do not hold food back until then — the rite can be the festive meal when it comes. A spoonful of soft, smooth food with no added sugar, salt or honey; no whole nuts or raisins; the baby sitting upright; and keep the coins and jewellery of the 'choosing' ritual out of the mouth.
Ear-piercing — one of the traditional sanskars.
Please note: Have it done by a trained person with a new sterile needle (or a single-use piercing gun), after the first vaccines; small gold studs with screw backs, no hoops or danglers; clean twice a day; see the doctor for redness, swelling, pus or fever.
The hair is taken off the head for the first time. Many families do it at the seat of the kuldevta.
Please note: Insist on a new blade (or clippers); hold the child still; take special care over the soft spot in the first year; wash any nick with clean water; cover the bare scalp from the sun.
The first letters. The child writes a letter for the first time — traditionally with a Saraswati vandana.
The sacred thread — the mark of formal learning beginning. The age is held differently by different traditions and families.
Puja and remedies
For children the shastra does not prescribe gemstones — it prescribes habits, giving and simple worship. That is what is below, and with each one, how it is tied to the kundali.
Birthdays and nakshatra days
The day each month the Moon returns to the birth nakshatra is, in the shastra, the child's own day. A simple worship of the nakshatra deity and the child's favourite food — tradition asks for no more than that.
Ashwini · Magha · Mula · Ashlesha · Jyeshtha · Revati
These six are called Gandmool. Tradition holds the shanti puja on the 27th day from birth, when the Moon comes back to the same nakshatra. This is not something to fear — it is a custom, and nothing bad attaches to the kundali because of it.
Please note: Keep the 27-day-old baby out of the havan smoke and away from the fire — a parent can sit in the baby's place.
A planet standing weak in the chart
For whichever planet sits pressed down in the kundali: its day, its daan and its mantra — that is the whole of navagraha shanti. For children, habits and giving are prescribed, not gemstones.
Vidyarambh and study
On the days of Mercury and Jupiter, on Basant Panchami, or at the Vidyarambh muhurta. The child's first letter is traditionally written on this day.
Repeated illness
Whichever part or element looks weak in the kundali, tradition prescribes a worship of Hanuman or Batuk Bhairav accordingly. Repeated illness needs a paediatrician to find the cause — tell them about any home or Ayurvedic medicine, as some contain lead. The puja sits beside that, never in its place — the shastra says the same.
Small infants
The oldest custom in the house — kajal, mustard and salt, or a lamp before the kuldevta. The birth kundali counts no separate dosha for this; it is a household tradition, and should be left as exactly that.
Please note: Do not put kajal or surma on a baby at all — not in the eyes, not on the skin: doctors advise against it, as many contain lead, which ends up on the hands and in the mouth, and it can cause eye infections. If the family wants a nazar mark, a small dot of something lead-free behind the ear.
Sanskars and pujas are tradition — and tradition has its own place. But for a child's health, study and mind, a doctor, a teacher and your own time cannot be replaced by any puja, and the shastra says the same. What is written here stands alongside those, not instead of them.