Education in Ancient India c14.s3.2

c14.s3.2

Introduction :—Rituals were naturally prescribed at the beginning and at the end of the annual school session, as they were at the beginning and at the end of the educational course. In pre-historic times the annual session of schools and colleges began soon after the commencement of the rainy season, when the sowing operations were over and crops had began to sprout. This usually happened by the full moon day of Śrāvaṇa¹ (August); so the ritual of Chhandasām-upākarman i. e. of ‘gathering the Vedic knowledge’, was performed on that day. Later on it began to be described as Śrāvaṇī². In pre-historic times Vedic literature was not extensive; so a college term of about five or six months was found to be sufficient for mastering it. The ritual of *Chhandasām-utsarjana*, i. e. the cessation of Vedic studies, was therefore performed on the full moon day of Pausha or Māgha (February-March). In later times when the Vedic literature became very extensive, and more branches of learning were developed like grammar, philology, logic, philosophy and Dharmaśāstra, the duration of the annual term was extended over practically the whole year. Curiously enough, owing to the force of the established tradition, the Utsarjana ceremony still continued to be performed in February or March, though the college studies did not cease at that time. At present the ritual is not performed at its proper time but combined with the Upākarma ritual. This practice goes back to medieval times.