History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.323

v2.c24.s1.323

*The Duration of studenthood (brahmacarya)*:—It appears from certain passages of the Upaniṣads that the usual duration of brahmacarya was 12 years⁸⁴⁸. Śvetaketu Āruṇeya is said to have become a brahmacārī when he was twelve and to have mastered all the Vedas at the age of 24 (vide Chān. Up. VI. 1. 2 quoted in *f. n.* 634). Similarly Chān. IV. 10. 1 appears to suggest that students left their teacher after twelve years of study. But a long period of brahmacarya was not unknown to the sages of the Upaniṣads. Chāndogya (VIII. 11. 3) declares that Indra remained as a student with Prajāpati for 101 years (three periods of 32 years plus five). The story of Bharadvāja narrated in the Tai. Br. quoted above (at p. 271) states that Bharadvāja studied the Vedas three parts of his life (at least till 75 years). The Gopatha Brāhmaṇa⁸⁴⁹ (II. 5) states that the period of studenthood for learning all the Vedas is 48 years; that distributing that period in four portions among the vedas student-hood is for 12 years (for mastering one Veda), that period (12 years) is the shortest (for brahmacarya) and that one should learn of the Veda as much as one can before he is about to return from his teacher.