History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.341

v2.c23.341

*Vidyārambha* :—The gṛhya sūtras and dharmasūtras are entirely silent as to what was done for the child's education between the third year when usually caula was performed and the 8th year (from conception) when the upanayana usually took place (in the case of brāhmaṇas). They state that rarely upanayana was performed even in the 5th year (as will be shown hereafter). Some faint light is thrown on this matter by the Arthaśāstra of Kauṭilya,⁶¹² which says that the prince after the performance of caula is to engage in the study of the alphabet and of arithmetic, and after his upanayana he is to study the Vedas, *ānvīkṣikī* (metaphysics), *vārtā* (agriculture and the science of wealth) and *daṇḍanīti* (the art of government) up till the 16th year when the godāna ceremony is to be performed and after which year he may marry. Kālidāsa also (in Raghuvaṁśa III. 28) says that prince Aja first mastered the alphabet and then entered into the ocean of (Sanskrit) literature. Bāṇa has⁶¹³ probably the Arthaśāstra in view when he makes prince Candrāpīḍa enter the temple of learning (*vidyāmandira*) at 6 and remain there till he became sixteen and he (like Milton in his letter to Hartlile) tells us how extensive the ideal curriculum of studies in arts and sciences for the prince was thought to be. In the Uttararāmacarita (Act II) it is said that Kuśa and Lava were taught vidyās other than the Veda after their *caula* and before *upanayana*.