Cutting nails is a healthy practice. It helps prevent the accumulation of dirt and germs in the space in between the nails and fingers letting them get mixed up with the food that we eat giving way to illnesses. However, the age old belief in India discourages cutting nails at night and this question can be approached from different angles.
Is it a superstition?
A superstition is a mythical belief that does not have any solid base or a rational explanation to it. Every society has a lot of superstitions. However, we need to remember that in the name of ruling out superstitions we neglect a lot of useful advice that has been handed over to us by generations. Therefore, in the first place, we need to reflect on the science behind it to determine whether it is superstition or not.
During those days, there was no electricity. Nights of those days were therefore much darker than now. Cutting nails during night lets the nail pieces fall hither and thither making it difficult to collect and dispose them. Left over nail pieces are a threat to hygiene and might cause some allergic reactions when unknowingly mixed with foods and eatables.
Those days, there were no nail clippers.
People used only knives to trim their nails. When knives were used for nail trimming during night, there was a risk of getting injuries and bleeding. Since medical assistance would be difficult to get during night time, people discouraged nail cutting at nights.
There seems to be a religious reason behind this too. Evening times mark the entry of goddess Lakshmi into the house. It is believed that she stays in home during nights to bless the home with prosperity and wealth. It is advised that acts such as disposing waste, giving away money, paying off loans and cutting nails and hair should not be done at night which shall mark disrespect to Goddess Lakshmi.
Black magic often requires the broken nail piece or a piece of shirt worn by the concerned person. Therefore, it was believed that when nails fall on the ground during night, evil spirits or people performing black magic against us might gather our nail piece and use them for causing harm to us.
Since we have electricity and bright light during these days, we might consider cutting nails under bright light and not dull light if at all we prefer cutting nails at night.
It is better to gather the nail pieces after cutting and dispose them off carefully without any left over. This is possible only when we examine the place under bright light.
To give respect to the religious belief of Goddess Lakshmi visiting the houses during the evenings, it is better to avoid cutting nails immediately after dust preferably till 7 pm.
In these modern days, we might not attach so much importance to the risk of our nail pieces being taken away by evil spirits or black magicians. However, one good advice that can be hygienic too is to bury off the nails after cutting them either during day or night.