Vedic Upanayana Ritual

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Foreword Upanayana is one of the main samskara-s or sacraments of Brahmins in which the preceptor draws the boy towards himself and initiates him in Vedic studies. Panini refers to the use of the word in the sense of acaryakarana (p.1.3.36) or 'acting as a teacher'. The boy is invested with the sacred thread, and thus endowed with a second or spiritual birth dvija and qualified to learn the Veda by heart. A Brahmin boy is initiated in the eighth year from conception. The boys of Kṣattriya-s and Vaisya-s have also an initiation ceremony; but the importance and period of study are less.

There is an earlier ceremony of initiation called Vidyarambha when the boy at the age of three also is introduced to the language study. The main item here is for the father or the teacher to write the basic letters on the tongue of the boy or the girl with a golden ring; and then make the child write with his second finger of the right hand; the father or teacher helps by holding the hand. This is also an early custom. Kalidasa refers to the teaching of the letters as the means for the boy to studying life nature, just as by showing the port one can make the traveller go anywhere through the ocean. (nadimukheneva samudram áviśat).

The Upanayana sacrament comes after the Vidyarambha and the Cudakarana or Caula which consists in the shaving the head of the boy by the father leaving a tuft at the centre. The procedure of Upanayana consists in the father taking the boy from his house to the teacher's house with the request to teach him Veda-s and the teacher's acceptance of the student. The life of the student in the teacher's house is extended for several years gurukulavasa. After the completion of the study the boy returns home. This sacrament is called Samåvartana (return) from the gurukula). Then there is the ceremonial bath snána which makes him eligible for the next important Samskara (wedding).

Sometimes it is claimed that in ancient times girls were also allowed to have the Upanayana. An authoritative statement says: purakalpe tu näriņām mauñji bandhanam işyate - in ancient times girls were allowed to have the trying of maunji thread. It is likely that this statement refers to a rite of the girl before her wedding. Bana describes the acetic Mahāśveta as having a sacred thread. This may be part of the penance.

The domestic sacraments are described in the Grhya Sütra-s, Manu Smriti etc. The gurukulavasa was not properly observed in later period. The Mathas of Sampnyasins or those attached to temples served as Vedic teaching schools. In Kerala the gurukula system also flourished side by side with the teaching in Mathas and in temples till the middle of the twentieth century.

There is no uniformity for the procedure of the Upanayana Each Vedic school has its Grhya Sutra-s describing the procedure. The need for a reliable and ancient procedure acceptable to all, and containing all essential rites for the Upanayana ceremony was felt by the leaders of the Theosophical Society, and in the twenties of the twentieth century Pandit Mahadeva Sastri who succeeded Dr Schradev as the Director of the Adyar Library prepared a simplified and authentic text which is simple and generally acceptable to all and published in the journal Bharata Dharma. This was reprinted as a pamphlet by the Theosophical Society, Adyar in 1946 and 1982. Because of the steady demand for this book from serious seekers of truth, we are now reprinting this booklet.