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Education in Ancient India c14.s5: Section E. Ayurvedic Upanayana

Education in Ancient India c14.s5

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Section E. Ayurvedic Upanayana

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Rituals in Useful Education

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the great hold which religion possesses over the Hindu mind, it is natural to expect some rituals in useful and professional education also. We proceed to describe some of them in sections E to G.

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All Castes eligible: Upanayana or Initiation was primarily intended for Vedic education, but very soon its principle was extended to useful education also. Early writers on Āyurveda, like Charaka and Suśruta, lay down a special Upanayana ceremony for students seeking admission to the medical course. The medical profession was not like the Vedic scholarship an exclusive monopoly, in theory or practice, of any particular caste; so Suśruta holds that a Kshatriya or a Vaishya physician also can play the role of the teacher for boys of his own caste.¹ It is quite probable that even Brahmana boys may have been initiated by non-Brahmana medical teachers, though our texts do not attest to this practice. The surgical school of Suśruta was in favour of the admission of even Shudra boys, though formal Upanayana with the recitation of the Mantras was prohibited in their case.² It is quite probable that Kshatriya and Shudra surgeons may have been, by tradition and environment, better adepts in the use of the knife than their Brahmana and Vaishya compeers.³

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¹ Sūtra-sthāna, II, 5.

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² Ibid.

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³ Such minor surgical operations as were performed before the introduction of the modern surgery were usually attempted by barbers both in India and Europe.

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Survey of the Ritual: Ayurvedic Upanayana was a short ritual modelled largely upon the Vedic prototype. An auspicious day was selected for the purpose. Darbha, Samidhs (sacred fuel), flowers, etc. were collected, an altar was specially prepared, and oblations of ghee and honey were offered to various deities and sages, first by the teacher and then by the student. Naturally Dhanvantari, Aśvins, Indra, Prajāpati and the Sūtrakāras intimately connected with the development of the medical science occupied the place of honour in this sacrifice. Both the teacher and the student circumambulated the fire on the altar. Brahmanas and celebrated physicians were then worshipped by the pupil. Then in the presence of the sacred fire the Guru charged the student to follow the well known rules of the student life and refrain from lust, anger, covetousness, laziness, pride, untruth and cruelty.¹ The student was specially required to be always industrious and engaged in the pursuit of fresh knowledge. He ought to have faith in his teacher, who was required to teach him all that he knew.

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¹ Susruta, Sutra-sthāna, chap. 2.

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