Garbhādhāna muhūrta
The best time to try for a child
For married couples. For your city we show when to try for a child, when to wait, and the exact nights and times — chosen for a strong, healthy child.
Are you married and planning a child?
This finds the right time for a husband and wife to unite for conception, for a strong and healthy child.
As required by Indian law (PC-PNDT Act, 1994), this tool does not predict the sex of the child.
Garbhādhāna saṁskāra
The scriptural way to conceive
A child's life does not begin at birth; it begins at conception. So the scriptures make conception itself a sacred act. Garbhādhāna — “placing the seed” — is the first of the sixteen saṁskāras of a Vedic life. Its aim is simple: that husband and wife come together with clean bodies, calm and devotional minds, at a proper time, and invite a good soul into their family. The classical texts are clear that the state of the parents' minds at that moment colours the child. If the father's mind is not sober, the seed is not good.
When the wife is fit — her season
A wife is fit to conceive only in her season (ṛtu): the sixteen nights counted from the first day of her monthly course, that day being the first night.
The first four nights are her course itself. She rests and keeps apart; there is no union. The 11th and the 13th nights are also left out. Her fit nights are the rest, from the 5th to the 16th. Give the first day of her course above and only these nights are shown.
Outside her season the scriptures do not count union as for a child. And a wife is not in her season while she is carrying a child, or nursing a baby under six months, or ill. Wait until she is well and her course has returned.
Days to keep away, even in her season
On these days husband and wife stay apart. The nights shown above already leave out the moon days and the saṅkrānti; eclipses, family śrāddha and vow days you must watch for yourselves.
- Amāvasyā and Pūrṇimā — the new moon and the full moon.
- Aṣṭamī and Caturdaśī — the 8th and 14th days of either half of the month.
- The day the Sun enters a new sign (saṅkrānti), and days of an eclipse. A day is counted from sunrise to sunrise.
- Śrāddha days for the ancestors, and days of a vow or fast.
- When either of you is ill, worn out, angry or grieving — or when she is not willing.
Only at night — never at dusk
Union for a child belongs to the night, never to the day and never to the evening twilight. The Bhāgavatam tells of Diti, who pressed Kaśyapa Muni at dusk, the hour he warned was the most inauspicious. The sons born of that hour were Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu, who troubled the whole world.
The times above are all set well into the night for this reason.
Preparing body and mind
- Both bathe and put on clean clothes. Keep the room clean and quiet.
- Light a lamp before the Lord. Pray together to Śrī Kṛṣṇa for a child who will love Him.
- Chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra together that day — many devotee couples chant extra rounds before they try.
- Eat light, pure food that day: no meat, fish, eggs or alcohol.
- Settle every quarrel first. Come together in love and with full mutual willingness — never from lust alone, never by force.
After conception
Keep the mother peaceful and happy. What she sees, hears and feels reaches the child. Prahlāda heard Nārada Muni's teaching while still in his mother's womb and was born a great devotee — so let her hear the Bhagavad-gītā, kīrtana and stories of the Lord.
In the later months comes the Sīmantonnayana saṁskāra, a blessing for mother and child. Ask your family priest or temple when to hold it.
A prayer for a child
The Santāna Gopāla mantra, to Śrī Kṛṣṇa as the child of Devakī. Recite it together, 108 times a day, from the day you decide to try.
ॐ देवकीसुत गोविन्द वासुदेव जगत्पते ।
देहि मे तनयं कृष्ण त्वामहं शरणं गतः ॥
Oṁ devakī-suta govinda vāsudeva jagatpate, dehi me tanayaṁ kṛṣṇa tvām ahaṁ śaraṇaṁ gataḥ.
Questions
Do we need our birth charts?
No. The classical rules for the time of conception read the sky at the moment of union, at the city where you are. Your birth charts would not change those hours, so they are not asked. Give the first day of her course to see only her fit nights. Nothing is kept on our side.
Why are some weeks empty?
Some weeks every hour carries a warning — for the mother, the child, or the months of pregnancy — and then the right course is to wait. The tool marks those stretches and names the reasons.
What do Exceptional, Best and Good mean?
They grade the strength of the child. Good: the sky shows a sign of conception in that hour and nothing stands against it. Best: the planets that form the child in the first three months are strong, and nine of the ten month by month. Exceptional: all ten are strong — a strong, healthy child. Hours that carry an evil are not recommended; the night's detail names them under 'Avoid'.
Does uniting in the window mean we will conceive?
No. The window is the time the classics favour. Conception still depends on health and on grace. If it does happen in that window, the start is a good one.
How is the delivery date found?
From the sky at the moment of conception, as the classical texts teach. The usual medical count (about 38 weeks from conception) is shown beside it.
Is there an age limit?
The wife must be at least 18 — in India a girl cannot lawfully marry before 18, and a pregnancy before then is dangerous. Fertility falls steadily after 35 and steeply after 40, and natural conception after 45 is rare; past 50 the tool does not give times. From 35 on, see a doctor before trying.
Will it tell us whether it is a boy or a girl?
No. Indian law (the PC-PNDT Act, 1994) forbids any service that predicts or selects the sex of a child before birth, by any means. This tool follows that law.
Already expecting, or planning around your own charts? See the children report and the muhūrta planner for naming and other ceremonies.