From the archive record
An unusual setting for a child to get her head shorn of hair - the erotic sculptures of the Khajuraho temple complex do not really have any connection with this Maha Shivratri ritual in central India. Mundan is a childhood ceremony in many parts of India. Children get their first haircut in the form of a completely shaven pate. There is some mis-placed superstition that the mother's womb is not clean and hence, the head is shaven to get the kid off to a fresh start. Watch an event of importance in the life of this very young child. Restless and clueless, little does this baby know that she is getting the shaving of a lifetime, known as Mundan. Mundan is the ritual of tonsuring the head of young children and newborn babies. Certain cultures in Hindus in India perform these rituals as purifi