RyanQuintana2: slightly enhance page for consistency also and fixed typos as per guidelines

2024-11-07T12:12:50Z

slightly enhance page for consistency also and fixed typos as per guidelines

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:42, 7 November 2024
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	[[File:Indian Sweets.JPG\|thumb\|Different varieties of sweets served on a Pumsavana function in Kerala.]]		[[File:Indian Sweets.JPG\|thumb\|Different varieties of sweets served on a Pumsavana function in Kerala.]]
	{{Hinduism}}		{{Hinduism}}
	'''Pumsavana''' ({{~~lang-~~sa\|पुंसवन}}, {{IAST\|Puṁsavana}}) (literally: quickening the fetus, or engendering a male or female issue) is the second of the 16 [[saṃskāra]]s ([[sacrament]]s, rite of passage) in ancient texts of [[Hinduism]].<ref>Pandey, R.B. (1962, reprint 2003). ''The Hindu Sacraments (Saṁskāra)'' in S. Radhakrishnan (ed.) ''The Cultural Heritage of India'', Vol.II, Kolkata:The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, {{ISBN\|81-85843-03-1}}, p.392</ref> The rite of passage is celebrated in the third or fourth month of pregnancy, typically after the pregnancy begins to show but before the baby begins to move in the womb.		'''Pumsavana''' ({{langx\|sa\|पुंसवन}}, {{IAST\|Puṁsavana}}) (literally: quickening the fetus, or engendering a male or female issue) is the second of the 16 [[saṃskāra]]s ([[sacrament]]s, rite of passage) in ancient texts of [[Hinduism]].<ref>Pandey, R.B. (1962, reprint 2003). ''The Hindu Sacraments (Saṁskāra)'' in S. Radhakrishnan (ed.) ''The Cultural Heritage of India'', Vol.II, Kolkata:The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, {{ISBN\|81-85843-03-1}}, p.392</ref> The rite of passage is celebrated in the third or fourth month of pregnancy, typically after the pregnancy begins to show but before the baby begins to move in the womb.

	==Background==		==Background==
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	''Pumsavana'' (Sanskrit: पुंसवन) is a composite word of ''Pums'' + ''savana''. ''Pums'' mean "to grind, move", and "a human being, a soul or spirit", while ''savana'' means "ceremony, rite, oblation, festival".<ref>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche puMs and savana] Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, Germany</ref> Pumsavana thus literally means "quickening a being, soul", and it is usually translated as "quickening a male or female fetus, bringing forth a male or female baby".<ref>Mary McGee (2007), Samskara, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Mittal and Thursby), Routledge, {{ISBN\|978-0415772273}}, page 335</ref>		''Pumsavana'' (Sanskrit: पुंसवन) is a composite word of ''Pums'' + ''savana''. ''Pums'' mean "to grind, move", and "a human being, a soul or spirit", while ''savana'' means "ceremony, rite, oblation, festival".<ref>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche puMs and savana] Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, Germany</ref> Pumsavana thus literally means "quickening a being, soul", and it is usually translated as "quickening a male or female fetus, bringing forth a male or female baby".<ref>Mary McGee (2007), Samskara, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Mittal and Thursby), Routledge, {{ISBN\|978-0415772273}}, page 335</ref>

	Pumsavana is a rite of passage observed when the pregnancy begins to show, typically in or after the third month of pregnancy and usually before the fetus starts moving in the womb. The ceremony celebrates the rite of passage of the developing fetus, marking the stage where the baby begins to kick as a milestone in a baby's development.~~<ref>{{Cite web\|title=What is Garbh Sanskar,\|url=https://www.krishnacoming.com/garbh-sanskar\|access-date=2021-09-07\|website=krishnacoming.com}}</ref>~~		Pumsavana is a rite of passage observed when the pregnancy begins to show, typically in or after the third month of pregnancy and usually before the fetus starts moving in the womb. The ceremony celebrates the rite of passage of the developing fetus, marking the stage where the baby begins to kick as a milestone in a baby's development.

	===Literature===		===Literature===

221.255.165.76 at 10:17, 27 January 2022

2022-01-27T10:17:59Z

New page

{{Short description|Hindu rite of passage during early pregnancy}}
[[File:Indian Sweets.JPG|thumb|Different varieties of sweets served on a Pumsavana function in Kerala.]]
{{Hinduism}}
'''Pumsavana''' ({{lang-sa|पुंसवन}}, {{IAST|Puṁsavana}}) (literally: quickening the fetus, or engendering a male or female issue) is the second of the 16 [[saṃskāra]]s ([[sacrament]]s, rite of passage) in ancient texts of [[Hinduism]].<ref>Pandey, R.B. (1962, reprint 2003). ''The Hindu Sacraments (Saṁskāra)'' in S. Radhakrishnan (ed.) ''The Cultural Heritage of India'', Vol.II, Kolkata:The Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, {{ISBN|81-85843-03-1}}, p.392</ref> The rite of passage is celebrated in the third or fourth month of pregnancy, typically after the pregnancy begins to show but before the baby begins to move in the womb.

==Background==
''Pumsavana'' is one of the 16 ''samskara'' in Hinduism, which are rites of deciding the gender of the fetus in early stages of a woman's pregnancy (third or fourth month), early steps for his welcome into the world in the presence of friends and family, then various stages of life ([[Ashrama (stage)|Ashrama]]) such as first learning day, graduation from school, wedding and honeymoon, pregnancy, raising a family, as well as those related to final rites associated with cremation.<ref name=husken>Jörg Gengnagel and Ute Hüsken (2005), Words and Deeds: Hindu and Buddhist Rituals in South Asia, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3447051521}}, see Preface Chapter</ref> These rites of passage are not uniform, and vary within the diverse traditions of Hinduism. Some may involve formal ceremonies, [[yajna]] (fire) ceremonies with the chanting of Vedic hymns. Others are simple, private affairs.<ref name=husken/>

These rites of passage in Hinduism are found in the numerous [[Dharmasutra]]s and [[Grhyasutra]]s dated from the 1st millennium BCE.<ref name=joyceflueckiger>Joyce Flueckiger, Everyday Hinduism, John Wiley & Sons, {{ISBN|978-1405160117}}, pages 169-191</ref><ref>David Knipe (2015), Vedic Voices: Intimate Narratives of a Living Andhra Tradition, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199397693}}, pages 32-37</ref><ref name=maryhinduworld>Mary McGee (2007), Samskara, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Mittal and Thursby), Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415772273}}, pages 332-356</ref>

==Description==
''Pumsavana'' (Sanskrit: पुंसवन) is a composite word of ''Pums'' + ''savana''. ''Pums'' mean "to grind, move", and "a human being, a soul or spirit", while ''savana'' means "ceremony, rite, oblation, festival".<ref>[http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/cgi-bin/tamil/recherche puMs and savana] Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, Germany</ref> Pumsavana thus literally means "quickening a being, soul", and it is usually translated as "quickening a male or female fetus, bringing forth a male or female baby".<ref>Mary McGee (2007), Samskara, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Mittal and Thursby), Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415772273}}, page 335</ref>

Pumsavana is a rite of passage observed when the pregnancy begins to show, typically in or after the third month of pregnancy and usually before the fetus starts moving in the womb. The ceremony celebrates the rite of passage of the developing fetus, marking the stage where the baby begins to kick as a milestone in a baby's development.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What is Garbh Sanskar,|url=https://www.krishnacoming.com/garbh-sanskar|access-date=2021-09-07|website=krishnacoming.com}}</ref>

===Literature===
The roots of the ''pumsavana'' ritual are found in section 4.3.23 and 4.6.2 of the [[Atharvaveda|Atharva Veda]], wherein charms are recited for a baby boy.<ref name=mauriceb>[[Maurice Bloomfield]], {{Google book|voQ5AQAAMAAJ|Hymns of the Atharva Veda}}, Oxford University Press, pages 97-99</ref> The Atharva Veda also contains charms to be recited for the birth of a child of either gender and the prevention of miscarriages, such as in section 4.6.17.<ref name=mauriceb/>

The Atharva Veda, includes thousands of chapters, with diverse scope and prayers. In many verses, the prayer or charm is aimed to have a child, of either sex. For example, in verse 14.2.2, the Atharva Veda states a ritual invitation to the wife, by her husband to mount the bed for conception, "being happy in mind, here mount the bed; give birth to children for me, your husband".<ref name=pandeygarbha>Rajbali Pandey (2013), Hindu Saṁskāras: Socio-religious Study of the Hindu Sacraments, 2nd Edition, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120803961}}, pages 48-56 with footnotes</ref> Texts, such as the [[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]], in the last chapter detailing the education of a student, include lessons for his [[Grihastha]] stage of life.<ref name=deussen>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814684}}, pages 534-539</ref> There, the student is taught, that as a husband, he should cook rice for the wife, and they together eat the food in certain way depending on whether they wish for the birth of a daughter or a son, as follows,<ref name=deussen/>

==Ceremony==
The ritual is performed in diverse ways, but all involve the husband serving something to the expectant wife. In one version, she is fed a paste mixture of yoghurt, milk and ''ghee'' (clarified butter) by him.<ref>Ute Hüsken, Will Sweetman and Manfred Krüger (2009), Viṣṇu's Children: Prenatal Life-cycle Rituals in South India, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3447058544}}, page 123</ref> In another version, the ''pumsavana'' ritual is more elaborate, done in the presence of [[yajna]] fire and vedic chants, where the husband places a drop of Banyan leaf extract in the wife's right nostril for a son, and her left nostril for a daughter, followed by a feast for all present.<ref>Helene Stork (Editor: Julia Leslie), Roles and Rituals for Hindu Women, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120810365}}, pages 92-93</ref><ref>B Rama Rao, {{Google books|A5lNAQAAIAAJ|Bulletin of the Indian Institute of History of Medicine}}, Vol. 33-34, page 153</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Hindu samskaras}}
[[Category:Samskaras]]

Pumsavana - Revision history

RyanQuintana2: slightly enhance page for consistency also and fixed typos as per guidelines

221.255.165.76 at 10:17, 27 January 2022