History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.23

v2.c24.23

It appears from the above and from the Upaniṣad passages set out immediately below that originally Upanayana was a very simple matter. The would-be student came to the teacher with a *samidh* in his hand and told the teacher that he desired to enter the stage of studenthood and begged to be allowed to be a brahmacārī living with the teacher. There were no elaborate ceremonies like those described in the gṛhya sūtras. The word brahmacarya occurs in the Kaṭha. Up. I. 1. 15, Muṇḍaka II. 1. 7, Chāndogya VI. 1. 1 and other Upaniṣads. The Chāndogya and the Bṛ. Up., probably the oldest among the Upaniṣads, furnish very valuable information. That some ceremonies were required before a young boy was admitted as a student even in Upaniṣadic times is clear from the statement in the Chāndogya V. 11. 7⁶³⁰ that when Aśvapati Kekaya was approached by Prācīnaśāla Aupamanyava and four others who carried fuel in their hands (like young students) and who were grown-up householders and theologians, 'he (Aśvapati) without submitting them to the rites of Upanayana began the discourse'. When Satyakāma⁶³¹ Jābāla tells the truth about his gotra to Gautama Hāridrumata, the latter says 'fetch, dear boy, fuel, I shall initiate you. You have not swerved from the truth' (Chāndogya IV. 4. 5). Similarly in the Bṛ. Up. VI. 2. 7. it is said that former students (i. e. students in former ages) approached (the teacher for brahmacarya) only in words (i. e. without any further solemn rite or ceremony).⁶³² In the most ancient times it is probable that the father himself always taught his son.⁶³³ But it appears that from the times of the Tai. S. and the Brāhmaṇas the student generally went to a guru and stayed in his house (vide note 624 about Nābhānediṣṭha). Uddālaka Āruṇi who was himself a profound philosopher of *brahma* asks his son Śvetaketu to enter upon brahmacarya and sends him to a teacher to learn the Vedas.⁶³⁴ The same Upaniṣad describes the āśrama of brahmacarya 'dwelling as a brahmacārī in the house of a teacher, mortifying his body in the house of his teacher till his⁶³⁵ end'. Chāndogya IV. 4. 4. shows that the teacher asked the pupil his gotra (in order that he may address him by that name). The same Upaniṣad shows that the brahmacārī had to beg for food (IV. 3. 5), that he had to look after the fire of his teacher (IV. 10. 1-2) and that he had to tend his cattle (IV. 4. 5). The age when upanayana was performed is not expressly stated in the Upaniṣads except in the case of Śvetaketu who was 12 (vide note 634 above). The period of student-hood was usually twelve (Chāndogya II. 23.1, IV. 10.1, VI.1.2), though the Chāndogya (VIII. 11. 3) speaks of Indra's brahmacarya for 101 years and Chāndogya II. 23. 1: speaks of brahmacarya for life.