Education in Ancient India c14.s7.5

c14.s7.5

end of the military training. The central and essential part of the ritual was, as the name itself would suggest, the investiture of the budding hero with a dagger in token of his having completed his military training.¹ This ceremony is mentioned by Nārada alone, but it was fairly common in Rajputana among Rajput families at the beginning of the 19th century, and was known as *kharg bandhāi* (tying of the sword), which is the vernacular rendering of the *chhurikā-bandha* of Nārada. This ceremony, which was performed before the marriage, may have been common in higher aristocratic families.