This rite must be performed on an auspicious day of the sixth or eighth month after the birth of the child if it’s a boy, and during the fifth, seventh or ninth month if it’s a girl. Teething is a good means to know when the child is ready to eat solid food. His attitude changes and he often cries as he is searching for such foodstuffs.

Sushruta, a famous doctor recommends that one prepare for this samskara some light food, like rice pudding, that will be first offered to the Deity, for the child should be fed during this ceremony, the priest asks Lord Vaishvanara (Vishnu) to enter the child’s body to accept solid foods he will eat throughout his life. Lord Sri Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita (15.14):

“I am the fire of digestion in the bodies of all living entities, and I join with the air of life, outgoing and incoming, to digest the four kinds of foodstuffs.”