Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c12.s2.1

c12.s2.1

When the intending pupil is thus properly dressed, he had to satisfy some preliminary queries put to him by the teacher before he initiates him. The first query was as regards his name and lineage. The second asked him to declare formally that he wants admission as a disciple. The form of the declaration is thus prescribed by Hiraṇyakeśin [i, 2, 5, 2]: “I have come hither to be a student. Initiate me! I will be a student, impelled by the god Savitṛi.” Pāraskara makes the teacher ask the pupil, “Whose pupil art thou?” and the pupil answer, “Yours” [ii, 2, 19–20]. The object of this was probably to make the pupil promise that he would abide by the rules of *brahmacharya* upon which he would be presently entering. According to Vishṇu [xxix, 5, 9, 10] the teacher must not admit to his teaching one whom he does not know. There are also laid down certain moral conditions qualifying a pupil for admission. “He must not be a scorner, a wicked man, or one of uncontrolled passions; he must be pure, attentive, possessed of a good memory, and chaste, who will not grieve nor revile the teacher, to whom the sacred knowledge can be revealed as to a keeper of one's gem" [cf. Manu, ii, 109 (ten persons eligible for Vedic instruction), 112–15].