History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.t2.967

v4.c63.t2.967

53. 'Brahmacarya for long periods' (n. 1799). The Baud. Dh. S. (I. 2. 1-5) declares, "the term of studentship for Veda study as observed in ancient times lasted for 48 years, or 24 years, or 12 years for each Veda or at least one year for each *kāṇḍa* (of the Tai. S.) or it lasted till the Veda was committed to memory, as life is evanescent and as the Veda ordains 'let him kindle the sacred fires while his hair is still black'." The Āp. Dh. S. (I. 1. 2. 11-16) provides that the student's stay with the teacher's household should be 48 years, 24 years or 12 years at the lowest. Manu III. 1 also states that the vow of studying the three Vedas under a *guru* must be observed for 36 years or for half of that time or for a quarter of it or until the student has mastered (the Veda). These long periods of 48 years, 36 or 24 years for Veda study (before a man could become an householder) are here forbidden in Kali. This was nothing new. Yāj. I. 36 had allowed 12 years for each Veda or five and if a man did not want to study all vedas but only one he could finish his studenthood in five years. Only an extremely small number could have spent 48 or 36 years in Veda study. Śabara on Jai. I. 3. 3 held that this text of Baud. was opposed to the *śruti* about kindling fires when a man was a young householder with black hair and was to be discarded. Vide pp. 832-834 above for a discussion of this. The authors of the Samayamayūkha and the Sm. Kau. both of whom had before them the reading ‘dīrghakālaṁ brahmacaryaṁ’ held that this prohibition was aimed at the words of Āp. and Baud. and that the vow of perpetual studentship which was undertaken with a special purpose in view (viz. realization of *brahma* and non-return to *saṁsāra*) was not prohibited by the Kalivarjya text and that there was nothing wrong in the practice of perpetual student-hood among the Draviḍas.