Ancient Indian Education: An Inquiry into its Origin, Development, and Ideals c4.77

c4.77

There were many sacred rites or sacraments (*saṃskāras*) to be performed from the time of conception onwards. The *upanayana*, or initiation ceremony, was that sacrament by which a lad of the three ‘twice-born’ castes entered upon studentship. Gautama says,³ ‘The initiation of a Brāhman shall ordinarily take place in his eighth year. (It may also be performed) in the ninth or fifth (years) for the fulfilment of (some particular) wish. The number of years (is to be calculated) from conception. That (initiation) is the second birth. . . . The initiation of a Kshatriya (shall ordinarily take place) in the eleventh (year after conception), and that of a Vaiśya in the twelfth. Up to the sixteenth year the time for the sāvitrī (initiation) of a Brāhman has not passed. Nor (for the initation) of a Kshatriya up to the twentieth (year). (And the limit for that) of a Vaiśya (extends) two years beyond (the latter term).’ The other Sūtras contain similar regulations. The age fixed was no doubt regarded as the ideal to be aimed at, though we see that considerable latitude was provided for. A young Brāhman was thus about seven years of age (according to our reckoning) when he entered upon the obligations of studentship, and this age is that which has been considered a suitable one by many educationists. It was expressly provided in a later verse that a child should not be made to recite Vedic verses before initiation ;¹ but whether this excluded all study cannot be said. Why a later age was provided for Kshatriyas and Vaiśyas to commence their studies is not quite clear. They were, of course, not expected to attain to the same proficiency in the Vedic sciences as the young Brāhman, as he alone could perform the sacrificial ritual, and certain portions of the sacred knowledge were reserved for him, and their course was therefore, it may be supposed, not expected to last as long as his. But in this case we should have expected them to have started at the same time and to have left their studentship at an earlier age, especially as they had also to learn their own particular crafts. It seems probable, however, that the difference in age was to emphasize the supposed intellectual superiority of the Brāhman, who was thus ready to begin the study at a younger age than his non-Brāhman fellows.