Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c12.s6.3

c12.s6.3

**Their Details.** Some of the ritualistic details of these ceremonies of *Upākarma* and *Utsarjana* are worth noting for their educational bearings. The term *upākarma* is part of the full expression *Chhandasām upākarma*, showing that *upākarma* was meant for study and conservation of Vedic texts. The ceremony is also known as *Śrāvaṇī*, as it began in Śrāvaṇa when the rains set in and keep the people out of work after the sowing of harvest is over. It was celebrated by the teacher uttering the Sāvitrī Mantra before his assembled pupils [*Khādira*, iii, 2, 18, 19]; praying for pupils by uttering a suitable Mantra [*Pāras.*, ii, 10; *Vārāha Gṛ. S.*, 7 (*antevāsināṁ yogamichchhannatha japati*)]; and giving a feast to his pupils [*Jaimini Gṛ. S.*, i, 14 (*Sabrahmachāriṇaścha upasametān bhojayedāchāryaḥ*)]. *Upākarma* also included invocation of appropriate deities. The Ṛigvedins worshipped Sāvitrī, Śraddhā, Medhā, Prajñā, Dhāraṇā, and the Ṛishis of the Veda, and then recited the first and last stanzas of the ten Maṇḍalas of the Ṛigveda, offering oblations of curds and *saktu* to Agni. The Yajurvedins first offered oblations to the sacrificial deities for success in the performance of sacrifices in which they wanted to specialize, and then they invoked the deities of the Saṁhitās and their Ṛishis. Next, the four Vedic Saṁhitās, together with Itihāsa and Purāṇa, were reverently recalled. In this connection, the Yajurvedins also paid their homage to the memory of scholars who had built up their studies: Kṛishṇa Dvaipāyana, Vaiśampāyana, Tittiri (author of Black Yajurveda), Ātreya (author of Yajurveda Pada-pāṭha), Kauṇḍinya the *Vṛittikāra*, Baudhāyana the *Pravachana-kāra*, Āpastamba the *Sūtrakāra*, and also to Satyāshāḍha, Hiraṇyakeśin, Vājasaneya, Yājñavalkya, Bhāradvāja, and Agniveśya. The Sāmavedins in their turn recalled such names as Jaimini, Tālavakāra, Rāṇāyani, Bhāguri, and the like [*Āśva. Gṛ. S.*; *Baudhā. Gṛ. S.*, iii, 1]. This ritual of recalling with worshipful gratitude on the opening day of the school the names of those who have contributed to its studies and traditions was the best inspiration to its pupils to keep up the culture now committed to their care, to keep burning the torch of learning left to them. A sense of *Guru-pāramparya*, of succession of teachers, creates a sense of responsibility to learning in its new devotees who are thus inspired to do their best for it as their worthy successors. Such a significant ritual should have its modern substitute.