Caste in India: The Facts and the System c6.s6.38

c6.s6.38

Under one form or another each celebrates in its own fashion, with a more or less meticulous ceremonial, those rites which in all countries mark the rhythm of man’s career in its different stages. But there is a ceremony belonging only to certain castes, to which the others possess no equivalent, and the primitive religious significance of this is certain. It is worth consideration ; we shall be obliged to return to it later when dealing with Brahmanic teaching. I refer to ‘initiation’, the *upanayana* of the Sanskrit.