Birthday Puja and Ayushya Homa by Video Call

01What the Ayushya Homa (Birthday Puja) is, and when families hold it

Ayushya Homa, also called Ayush Homam, is a prayer for a long and healthy life (ayus), offered to Ayur Devata, with mantras such as the Ayushya Suktam. In South India especially, it is traditionally held on the birthday according to the birth nakshatra (janma nakshatra) rather than the calendar date, and is common for a child's first birthday (abdapurti) and for elders' milestone birthdays.

Many families combine it with a Maha Mrityunjaya prayer, a Navagraha puja or a simple Ganesh puja. In North India, families often hold a birthday Satyanarayan Puja or a havan instead; tell us your family's custom.

02What the Ayushya Homa (Birthday Puja) is traditionally done for

• Traditionally done for health and a long life.
• Traditionally done to give thanks for another year.
• Traditionally done for blessings at a milestone (first, sixtieth, eightieth).

When: on the birthday by the tithi or the date, or on a milestone birthday.

03Count, duration, and what is included

A havan of 108 or 1,008 ahutis, with the Maha Mrityunjaya mantra 1,008, 5,100 or 11,000 times in the upper packages. Typical durations are listed in each package below; the price, the date, the time and how long the puja takes are confirmed with you on WhatsApp when you book.

Included in every package:

• Either a live call or a video recording of the puja if you cannot attend, never both
• All samagri, arranged by the pandit at no extra charge
• Sankalp in your family's names and gotra
• Date and muhurat worked out for your city
• Keepsake certificate after the puja (Certificate included)

Not included:

• Shipping of prasad
• Any in-person visit by a pandit

04How the Ayushya Homa (Birthday Puja) works by video call

The Ayushya Homa (Birthday Puja) is performed live by an experienced pandit we work with, on a one-on-one video call with your family. You stay at home, anywhere in the world, and do the offerings with your own hands while the pandit leads. The steps:

1. Book on WhatsApp: Message us on WhatsApp with the puja you want, your city and country, and your time zone. The button on this page fills in the puja and your time zone for you; you add your city.
2. Choose the date and muhurat: We suggest dates and times in your own local time. Where the puja calls for a muhurat (an auspicious window), it is worked out from the panchang for the city you are in, not for India.
3. Samagri arranged for you: The pandit arranges all the samagri for the puja, at no extra charge; you only need a clean, quiet place at home to sit for the call.
4. Join the video call: At the agreed time you join a one-on-one video call with the pandit from your home altar, on WhatsApp video or Google Meet, whichever your family prefers. It is your family's call alone.
5. Sankalp with your names and gotra: The pandit begins with the sankalp: the formal statement of the place, the date, the names of the family members, your gotra and the intention of the puja.
6. The puja: The pandit recites the mantras and guides each offering step by step, so that the hands placing the flowers, the water and the lamp are your own.
7. Aarti: The puja closes with aarti: you wave the lamp at your altar while the pandit sings, and the whole family can join in.
8. Prasad guidance: The pandit tells you how to offer and share the prasad, and what to do afterwards with the flowers, the kalash water and the other offerings.

On the call the pandit leads the Ganesh puja, the kalash and the sankalp in the birthday person's name, then the homa: ahutis of ghee and samagri offered into a small fire with the Ayushya mantras. Where a fire is not possible at home, the pandit performs the prayers with lamps and offerings instead. The puja closes with aarti, and elders bless the birthday person with akshat.

05Who it suits

It suits a child's first birthday, children's birthdays generally, and elders' birthdays such as the 60th, 70th and 80th, which have their own larger rites (Shashtiabdapurti, Bhimaratha Shanti and Sahasra Chandra Darshana) that we can discuss on WhatsApp. Families abroad often arrange it so grandparents in India can join the call.

06Timing and muhurat

The nakshatra birthday falls on the day in the solar month of birth when the Moon is in the birth nakshatra at sunrise; it can differ from the calendar date by days, and from India's date by a day. We compute it for your city. If you do not know the birth nakshatra, our Free Kundli shows it from the birth date, time and place.

07Booking, payment and rescheduling

All bookings are made on WhatsApp. You pay on WhatsApp by UPI (in India), PayPal, USDT or card-to-USDT; nothing is paid on this website. Payments are not refundable, but you can reschedule up to two times if you tell us at least 48 hours before the puja (see our refund policy).

The call is on WhatsApp video or Google Meet, whichever your family prefers. The pandit performs the puja in Sanskrit and speaks Hindi; a team member who speaks English joins the live call to help families who prefer English.

If your family cannot attend live, the pandit performs the puja for you and we send you a video of it instead. It is either a live call or a video recording, never both: a live call is not recorded. The price, the date, the time and how long the puja takes are confirmed with you on WhatsApp when you book.