Education in Ancient India c14.s1.6

c14.s1.6

The Ritual non-existent in early Times : Why : Vidyārambha is thus the earliest Saṃskāra in the student’s life, but is does not, like Upanayana, go back to hoary antiquity. The authorities, which prescribe and describe this ritual, are as late as the second millenium of the Christian era.¹ It appears indeed very strange that the earlier works like the Grihya-sūtras and the Dharma-sūtras, which have laid down rituals for such relatively insignificant occasions like *Grihya-nishkramana* (when the child is first taken out from the house), and *anna-prāśana* (when it is first given food), should have failed to associate the commencement of the primary education with any religious ceremony. The reason, however, is not far to seek. Upanayana Saṃskāra, which existed even in the Vedic age, marked the beginning of education in pre-historic times. There was thus no necessity to prescribe a different Saṃskāra like *aksharasvīkarana* (learning of the alphabet) for the simple reason that the alphabet was then probably unknown.²