Traditionally, the eleventh of the life
cycle ceremonies (samskaras), in which
a young man received a religious initiation that functioned as a symbolic “second birth,” conferring on him new
capacities and responsibilities. This ceremony marks the symbolic end of childhood and, as with many such rites of
passage, the creation of a new social
identity. After this rite the initiate
becomes a brahmacharin, the first of
the stages of life (ashramas) for a
“twice-born” man. This initiation gives
the entitlement and the obligation to
study the Vedas, the oldest and most
authoritative Hindu religious texts, and
according to the traditional model, the
young man would have done this while
living in the household of his guru. With
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Upanayana (“bringing-near”) Samskara
this entitlement came responsibilities,
particularly to observe purity laws, to
which younger children were not
subject. If nothing else, this rite is an
essential prerequisite to marriage, since
without it the young man is still
considered a child, and in some
contemporary cases it is performed
immediately before the wedding.
According to the dharma literature,
this rite was restricted to young men
from the three highest traditional social
classes (varnas), namely, brahmins,
kshatriyas, and vaishyas. Indeed, it is
the entitlement for this rite that makes
these three the “twice-born” groups. For
each group, a different age was prescribed for initiation and a different
duration fixed for study, with brahmins
being both earliest to start and the
longest to study. The heart of the
upanayana samskara is investing the
young man with the sacred thread
(janeu), which he must wear from that
day forth, and teaching him the sacred
formula known as the Gayatri mantra.
This rite is still important and still widely
performed, although it tends to be
stressed most by brahmins. This is not
surprising, given their traditional position as teachers and scholars and their
concern for conserving that status, even
in modern times. For further information see Pandurang Vaman Kane (trans.),
A History of Dharmasastra, 1968; and Raj
Bali Pandey, Hindu Samskaras, 1969.
The former is encyclopedic and the
latter more accessible; despite their
age, they remain the best sources for
traditional Hindu rites.