History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.13

v2.c24.13

In the Tai. Br. III.⁶²³ 10. 11 there is the story of Bharadvāja who remained a brahmacārī for three parts of his life (i. e. till 75) and to whom Indra said that in all that long period of brahmacarya he had mastered only an insignificant portion (three handfuls out of three mountains) of the Vedas, which were endless in extent. The story of Nābhānediṣṭha, son of Manu, who was excluded from ancestral property at a partition made by his brothers, narrated in the Ait. Br. shows⁶²⁴ that he was a brahmacārī staying with a teacher away from his father's place. The Śat. Br. XI. 5. 4. contains many and almost complete details about the life of *brahmacārins* which bear a very close similarity to those taught in the gṛhya sūtras. A brief summary is set out below. The boy says 'I have come unto brahmacarya' and 'let me be a brahmacārī'. Then the teacher asks him 'what is your name'; then the teacher takes him near (upanayati); the teacher takes hold of the boy's hand with the words 'you are the brahmacārī of Indra; Agni is your teacher, I am your teacher, N. N. (addressing the boy by his name)'. Then he consigns the boy to (the care of) the elements. The teacher instructs him 'drink water, do work (in the teacher's house), put a fuel stick (on the fire), do not sleep (by day).' He repeats the Sāvitrī (mantra sacred to Savitṛ). Formerly it was repeated a year (after the boy came as a brahmacārī), then at the end of six months, 24 days, 12 days, 3 days; but one should repeat to the brāhmaṇa boy the verse at once (on the very day of upanayana); the teacher repeats it to him first each *pāda* separately, then the half and then the whole. Being a brahmacārī one should not eat honey.⁶²⁵