manusmriti

LAWS OF MANU
from the past and moving into the future. The rite is performed as a special
ceremony in most homes, for young girls and boys.
At Rishikesh, on the banks of the Ganges, there is a special chudakarana or
mundana samskara. In this ceremony, along with cutting and shaving hair, Vedic
mantras and prayers are chanted by trained priests, acharyas and rishikumaras.
The child's head is shaven and the hair is then symbolically offered to the holy
river. The child and his/her family then perform a sacred yajnaceremony and the
Ganga Aarti.
Brahmachari Ashram
Education
Hindu ritual of initiation, is restricted to the three upper varnas, or social classe. It
is a rite of transition from childhood to studenthood. it marks the male child’s
entrance upon the life of a student (brahmacarin) and his acceptance as a full
member of his religious community. The ceremony is performed between the ages
of 5 and 24, (Manu prescribes the age of 8)
After a ritual bath the boy is dressed as an ascetic and brought before his guru
(personal spiritual guide), who invests him with a deerskin (The deerskin part is
avoided these days with the modern introduction of the doctrine of Ahimsa –non
violence of non-killing.) to use as an upper garment, a staff, and the sacred thread
(upavita, or yajnopavita).
The thread, consisting of a loop made of three symbolically knotted and twisted
strands of cotton cord, is replaced regularly so that it is worn throughout the
lifetime of the owner, normally over the left shoulder and diagonally across the
chest to the right hip. It identifies the wearer as dvija, or “twice-born,” the second
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