Kuan Poojan (Jalwa)
This is a marwari/Bania traditional ritual. Practiced in the state of Rajasthan and some parts of Haryana
The new mother steps out of her home for the first time to worship a water well and seek blessings from the almighty. Praying to the water god to fill her home with abundance and a ceaseless flow of milk for her little infant.
The married daughters are invited home for the ceremony. The daughters draw cosmological symbols of sun (satiya/swastik) and moon (Chabdi) with cow dung (Gobar) and turmeric (Haldi) at the entrance of the room where the new mother and child had been confined for the past 40 days.
The doors are decorated with bandanvar (string of mango leaves) and house decorated with flowers. The new mother covers her head with a red and yellow chunri (pelia) used for all marwari religious ceremonies and places a (Urn) kalash on her head. Handing her new born infant to the senior most male member of the family (generally the grandfather) the mother along with the all women processions leaves the house with great fanfare to go to the water well.
Once the women reach their destination the mother worships the parapet wall of the well (Mundair) and draws the cosmic symbols of Sun, Moon, Swastik and Om with turmeric, kumkum and few rice grains. Filling her kalash with fresh water she returns back home stopping midway at the temple to offer her prayers and seek blessings.
This Indian Marwari religious ceremony is performed after the birth of a baby boy as a baby boy is considered to carry the family name and legacy forward.
The door is decorated with cosmic symbolic drawings of Sun, Moon and goddess lakshmis feet as without these human existence is impossible. Cow dung and turmeric are disinfectant thus were liberally used. Purifying the atmosphere before the mother steps out of her room.
The groundwater well is worshipped as in ancient times, in rajasthan these wells were the only existing structures to access purest form of underground water
The entire neighbourhood and relatives get invited over for the first time to the house to meet the mother and child and celebrate.
This ceremony takes place only after 40 days of compulsory confinement period strictly for the mother to rest, recuperate and bond with the baby.
It is the new mothers first outing.
The outer raised walls (Mundair) are worshipped as they are built around the bored/ excavated opening to prevent flow of dirty water into the water table. They prevent impurities from reaching the water table and contaminating it.
This beautiful ceremony is designed by our ancestors to reinforce the value of water as they believed that water is a giver of life, destroyer of evil, and purifier of the soul.
This ceremony also was a reminder to maintain an ecological balance, an equilibrium between living organisms such as human being, plants, and animals as well as their environment. Compiled by: Sharmila Goyal New Delhi sharmila473@yahoo.com