Prapāṭhaka II, Kāṇḍikā 10

1.^[1][2] In the eighth year after the conception let him initiate a Brāhmaṇa,

2. In the eleventh year after the conception a Kṣatriya,

3. In the twelfth year after the conception a Vaiśya.

4. Until the sixteenth year the time has not passed for a Brāhmaṇa, until the twenty-second for a Kṣatriya, until the twenty-fourth for a Vaiśya.

5.^[3] After that (time has passed), they become patitasāvitrīka (i.e. they have lost their right of being taught the Sāvitrī).

6. Let them not initiate such men, nor teach them, nor perform sacrifices for them, nor form matrimonial alliances with them.

7. On the day on which the youth is going to receive the initiation, on that day, early in the morning, they give him to eat, and have his hair arranged, and wash him, and deck him with ornaments, and put on him a (new) garment which has not yet been washed.

8.^[4] Their garments are made of linen, of hempen cloth, of cotton, or of wool (according to the caste to which the student belongs).

9. The skins (which they wear), are an antelope-skin, or the skin of a spotted deer, or a goat's skin.

10.^[5] Their girdles are made of Muñja grass, of Kāśa grass, of Tāmbala.

11. Their staffs are of Parṇa wood, of Bilva wood, of Aśvattha wood.

12. The garment of a Brāhmaṇa is made of linen, or of hempen cloth, that of a Kṣatriya, of cotton, that of a Vaiśya, of wool.

13.^[6] Thereby also the other articles have been explained.

14. Or if (the proper articles prescribed) cannot be got, all (of them may be used) by (persons of) all castes.

15.^[7] To the east of the house on a surface besmeared (with cow-dung) wood has been put on the fire.

16. Having sacrificed with (the Mantras which the student recites) 'Agni! Lord of the vow' (MB. I, 6, 9-13), the teacher stations himself to the west of the fire, on northward-pointed Darbha grass, facing the east.

17. Between the fire and the teacher the student (stands), raising his joined hands, turning his face towards the teacher, on northward-pointed Darbha grass.

18. Standing on his south side a Brāhmaṇa versed in the Mantras fills (the student's) joined hands with water,

19. And afterwards (those) of the teacher.

20. Looking (at the student the teacher) murmurs (the verse), 'With him who comes to us, we have come together' (MB. I, 6, 14).

21. He causes (the student) to say, 'I have come hither to studentship' (ibid. 16).

22.^[8] In (the words), 'What is thy name' (ibid. 17), he asks after his name.

23. The teacher chooses for him a name which he is to use at respectful salutations,

24. (A name) derived from (the name of) a deity or a Nakṣatra,

25. Or also of his Gotra, according to some (teachers).

26. Having let the water run out of his joined hands (over the student's hands), the teacher with his right hand seizes (the student's) right hand together with the thumb, with (the formula), 'By the impulse of the god Savitṛ, with the arms of the two Aśvins, with Pūṣan's hands I seize thy hand, N.N.!' (ibid. 18).

27. He then makes him turn round from left to right with (the formula), 'Move in the sun's course after him, N.N.!' (ibid. 19).

28. Grasping down with his right hand over his right shoulder he should touch his uncovered navel with (the formula), 'Thou art the knot of all breath' (ibid. 20).

29. Raising himself (from the position implied in Sūtra 28, he should touch) the place near the navel with (the formula), 'Ahura' (ibid. 21).

30. Raising himself (still more, he should touch) the place of the heart with (the formula), 'Kṛśana' (ibid. 22).

31. Having touched from behind with his right hand (the student's) right shoulder with (the formula), 'I give thee in charge to Prajāpati, N.N.!' (ibid. 23)—

32. And with his left (hand) the left (shoulder) with (the formula), 'I give thee in charge to the god Savitṛ, N.N.!' (ibid. 24)—

33.^[9] He then directs him (to observe the duties of Brahmacarya, by the formula), 'A student art thou, N.N.!' (ibid. 25).

34. 'Put on fuel. Eat water. Do the service. Do not sleep in the day-time' (ibid. 26).

35. Having gone in a northerly direction from the fire, the teacher sits down to the east, on northward-pointed Darbha grass,

36. The student to the west, bending his right knee, turning his face towards the teacher, also on northward-pointed Darbha grass.

37. (The teacher) then ties round (the student) thrice from left to right the girdle made of Muñja grass and causes him to repeat (the verse), 'Protecting us from evil word' (ibid. 27), and (the verse), 'The protectress of right' (ibid. 28).

38. Then (the student) respectfully sits down near (the teacher) with (the words), 'Recite, sir! May the reverend one recite the Sāvitrī to me.'

39. He then recites (the Sāvitrī, ibid. 29) to him, Pāda by Pāda, hemistich by hemistich, and the whole verse,

40. And the Mahāvyāhṛtis one by one, with the word Om at the end (ibid. 30).

41. And handing over to him the staff, which should be made of (the wood of) a tree, he causes him to repeat (the formula), 'O glorious one, make me glorious' (ibid. 31).

42. Then (the student) goes to beg food,

43. First of his mother, and of two other women friends, or of as many as there are in the neighbourhood.

44. He announces the alms (received) to his teacher.

45. The rest of the day he stands silently.

46. After sunset he puts a piece of wood on the fire with (the Mantra), 'To Agni I have brought a piece of wood' (ibid. 32).

47. Through a period of three nights he avoids eating pungent or saline food.

48. At the end of that (period) a mess of boiled rice-grains (is offered) to Savitṛ.

49.^[10] Then he may do what he likes.

50. A cow constitutes the sacrificial fee.

End of the Second Prapāṭhaka.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

10, 1 seq. The initiation of the student. Khādira-Gṛhya II, 4, 1 seq.

[2]:

1-4. On the number of years given for the Upanayana of persons of the three castes, see the note on Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya II, I, 1.

[3]:

5, 6. See the note on Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya II, I, 9.

[4]:

There are four kinds of garments indicated, though only persons of three castes are concerned. The explanation of this apparent incongruence follows from Sūtra 12.

[5]:

Tāmbala is stated to be a synonym for śaṇa (hemp).

[6]:

As the garments indicated in Sūtra 8 belong, in the order in which they are stated, to persons of the three castes respectively, thus also of the skins (Sūtra 9), of the girdles (Sūtra 10), and of the staffs (Sūtra 11); the first is that belonging to a Brāhmaṇa, the second, to a Kṣatriya, and the third, to a Vaiśya.

[7]:

Comp. above, chap. 9, 2.

[8]:

22, 23. It is evident that the words tasyācāryaḥ belong to Sūtra 23, and not to Sūtra 22, to which the traditional division of the Sūtras assigns them. The corresponding section of the Mantra-Brāhmaṇa runs thus: 'What is thy name?'—'My name is N.N.!' It is not clear whether the student, being questioned by the teacher, had to indicate his ordinary name, and then to receive from the teacher his 'abhivādanīya nāmadheya,' or whether he had to pronounce, on the teacher's question, directly the abhivādanīya name chosen for him by the teacher. The commentary and the corresponding passage of the Khādira-Gṛhya (II, 4, 12) are in favour of the second alternative.

[9]:

33, 34. Comp. Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya II, 4, 5 note.

[10]:

49, 50. Dr. Knauer very pertinently calls attention to the fact that these Sūtras are not repeated, as is the rule with regard to the concluding words of an Adhyāya or Prapāṭhaka. Comp. chap. 8, 25 note.