Education in Ancient India c11.s1.9

c11.s1.9

Upanayana of Girls: No one can recite Vedic prayers or offer Vedic sacrifices without having undergone the Vedic initiation (*Upanayana*). It is, therefore, but natural that in the early period the Upanayana of girls should have been as common as that of boys. There is ample evidence to show that such was the case. The *Atharvaveda* (XI. 5. 18) expressly refers to maidens undergoing the *Brahmacharya* discipline³ and the Sūtra works of the 5th century B. C. supply interesting details in its connection. Even Manu includes Upanayana among the *saṃskāras* (rituals) obligatory for girls (II. 66). After about the beginning of the Christian era, girls' Upanayana went out of vogue, but Smṛti writers of even the 8th century A. D. like Yama admit its prevalence in the earlier age.⁴