Nishkramana(Sanskrit:निष्क्रमण,Niṣkramaṇa) (literally, first outing) is the sixth of the 16saṃskāras(sacraments) practiced by theHindus.On the day of theNishkramana,a square area in the courtyard from where sun can be seen is plastered with cow dung and clay and the sign ofsvastikais marked on it. The mother of the child scatters grains of rice over it. The child is brought by a nurse, and the ceremony ends when the father makes the child look at the sun with the sound of theconch-shelland the chanting ofVedichymns.[1]According to theManusmriti(II.34), in the fourth month after birth, theNishkramanaof the child should be performed.[2]According to theYamasmriti,quoted inViramitrodaya,a child should see the sun in the third month and the moon in the fourth month after birth.[1]
^abPandey, 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,ISBN81-85843-03-1,pp.390-413
