Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c11.11

c11.11

Megasthenes' statement (fragment 41) about the 37 years which Indian philosophers spend in the company of fellow students and teachers in chastity and self-mortification, before they set up a family, reminds us of the 36 years of Vedic studies. The data in Alberuni 2, 130—135 about the student and the house-holder thoroughly agree with the Smṛtis, but probably they are mostly taken from that source. At the present day studying at the house of a Guru is no longer obligatory and takes place only in isolated places; the Naiṣṭhikabrahmacārin is still seen in various sects of the present day in which similar rules between the pupil and the teacher are in force as laid down in the Smṛtis. Usually "the ceremony of being admitted by the teacher" (*upanayana*) is considered only as a form followed almost immediately by "the return from the teacher," which too has become a mere ceremony, cf. §56. From economic grounds it is not improbable that these brief ceremonies date from quite an ancient period. On the other hand, the duties of the Gṛhastha are still more or less observed,¹ such as the cleansing of the body with the left hand, the use of the tooth-pick mentioned also by Hiouen Thsang, morning and evening prayers, avoiding treading on potsherd, bones etc., wearing gold ear-rings, institutions for divine service, cf. §§ 56—59.