Education in Ancient India c14.s3.15

c14.s3.15

Sravani and the Sacred Thread :—The critical reader may now naturally enquire as to the causes that have led to the close association of Śrāvaṇī with the change of the sacred thread. The renewal of the sacred thread was a minor element in the ritual; most of our authorities do not even refer to it. At the time of most of the Vratas (vows) and Saṃskāras, a new sacred thread, staff, girdle, etc., were to be worn by students. Śrāvaṇī was no exception; on this occasion also they discarded their old sacred threads, staffs, girdles, etc., and substituted them by new ones,—a procedure somewhat similar to that of the modern student, who usually gets new clothes prepared when he leaves home for joining his college. By a strange irony of fate, the most insignificant element in this ritual has now assumed an altogether disproportionate importance and its real nature and significance have been forgotten altogether.