Nakshatra shanti homam
Nakshatra shanti homam is performed for a child born under a nakshatram or a pada that the shastra says needs it — Moola, Jyeshtha, Aslesha, Magha and the Gandanta junctions. It is done on the twenty-seventh day, when the birth star returns, or at any later date the panchangam allows.
The proper time is the twenty-seventh day, when the child’s nakshatram comes round again, and families are often told this only after it has passed. It is not lost: the homam can be performed at the return of the nakshatram in any later month, and we will give you the next date.
Which shanti is needed depends on the exact pada, not only the nakshatram, so give us the birth date, time and place and we will work it out before saying what is required. Where the pada does not in fact call for a shanti, we will tell you that too.
No prices are listed here. Each karyam is quoted on the phone, once we know the date, the place and the custom your family follows.
Questions about this karyam
We missed the twenty-seventh day. Is it too late?
No. The homam is performed at the return of the child’s nakshatram in a later month. Give us the birth details and we will give you the next date.
Does every Moola birth need it?
The pada decides it, not the nakshatram alone. Send us the birth date, time and place; where no shanti is called for we will say so.
Should the father be present?
Yes, and the mother and the child. It is a family karyam and the sankalpam is made in the child’s name.
Does the child have to be awake for it?
No, and infants usually sleep through most of it. The child needs to be present and on the mother’s lap for the sankalpam and again at the end. We plan the morning around a feed so that the two parts the child is needed for do not fall at the worst moment.