ब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya) [Printed book page 2-074] Brahma-carya denotes the condition of life of the
Brahma- cārin1 or religious student. The technical sense is first found in
Page2-075+ 70 the last Maṇḍala of the Rigveda.
2 The practice of studentship
doubtless developed, and was more strictly regulated by custom
as time went on, but it is regularly assumed and discussed in
the later Vedic literature, being obviously a necessary part of
Vedic society
The Atharvaveda
3 has in honour of the Brahmacārin a hymn
which already gives all the characteristic features of religious
studentship. The youth is initiated (
upa-nī) by the teacher
4 into a new life; he wears an antelope skin, and lets his hair
grow long;
5 he collects fuel,
6 and begs,
7 learns, and practises
penance. All these characteristics appear in the later literature.
The student lives in the house of his teacher (
ācārya-kula-vāsin;8 ante-vāsin);
9 he begs,
10 looks after the sacrificial fires,
11 and
tends the house.
12 His term of studentship might be long
extended: it was normally fixed at twelve years,
13 but much
longer periods, such as thirty-two years, are mentioned.
14 The
Page2-076+ 56 age at which studentship began varied.
15 Śvetaketu com-
menced at twelve and studied for twelve years.
16 It is assumed in the Gṛhya Sūtras that the three Āryan castes
were all required to pass through a period of studentship. But
that this is much more than priestly schematism is uncertain.
No doubt individuals of the
Kṣatriya or
Vaiśya caste might go
through part of the period of studentship, just as Burmese boys
of all classes now pass some time in a monastery as students.
This is borne out by the reference in the Atharvaveda
17 to the
king guarding his country by Brahmacarya — though that is
susceptible of a different interpretation — and more clearly by
the reference in the Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā
18 to a rite intended to
benefit one who, although not a Brahmin, had studied (
vidyām anūcya), but had not gained renown, and by references in the
Upaniṣads to kings who like
Janaka studied the Vedas and the
Upaniṣads.
19 Normally, however, the Kṣatriya studied the art
of war.
20 One of the duties of the Brahmacārin was chastity. But
reference is in several places
21 made to the possibility of mis-
conduct between a student and the wife of his preceptor, nor is
any very severe penance imposed in early times — later it is
different — for such a sin. In certain cases the ritual required
a breach of chastity, no doubt as a magic spell to secure
fertility.
22 Even an old man might on occasion become a pupil, as the
story of
Āruṇi shows.
23 [
Footnote: 1) Rv. x. 109, 5; Av. vi. 108, 2; 133, 3; xi. 5, 1 et seq.; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 3, 3, 1, etc.] [
Footnote: 2) Rv., loc. cit.] [
Footnote: 3) xi. 5. Cf. Gopatha Brāhmaṇa, i. 2, 1-8, which contains an independent account of the Brahmacārin (Bloom- field, Atharvaveda, 110); Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 3, 3, 1 et seq.; Taittirīya Saṃhitā, vi. 3, 10, 5.] [
Footnote: 4) Av. xi. 5, 3. It is used in the ritual of the Upanayana, according to the Kauśika Sūtra, lv. 18.] [
Footnote: 5) Av. xi. 5, 6.] [
Footnote: 6) Av. xi. 5, 4, 6.] [
Footnote: 7) Av. xi. 5, 9.] [
Footnote: 8) Chāndogya Upaniṣad, ii. 23, 2. So regularly brahma-caryeṇa vas, Av. vii. 109, 7; Aitareya Brāhmaṇa, v. 14, etc.; or car, Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 3, 3, 7; Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa, iii. 7, 6, 3, etc.] [
Footnote: 9) Ibid., iii. 11, 5; iv. 10, 1; Bṛhad- āraṇyaka Upaniṣad, vi. 3, 15 (Mādhyaṃ- dina = vi. 3, 7 Kāṇva); Taittirīya Upaniṣad, i. 3, 3; 11. 1.] [
Footnote: 10) Chāndogya Upaniṣad, iv. 3, 5. Cf. Av. vi. 133, 3; Śatapatha Brāh- maṇa, xi. 3, 3, 5.] [
Footnote: 11) Chāndogya Upaniṣad, iv. 10, 2 et seq.; Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa. xi. 3, 3, 4.] [
Footnote: 12) Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, iii. 6, 2, 15. A Mantra in the Āśvalāyana Gṛhya Sūtra, i. 22, 1. 2, and elsewhere, sums up the duties of the Brahmacārin as ‘thou art a Brahmacārin: eat water; perform thy duty; sleep not in the daytime; obedient to thy teacher study the Veda (brahmacāry asy; apo ‘śāna; karma kuru; divā mā svāpsīr; ācāry- āyādhīno vedam adhīṣva).’ One duty specially referred to in the Aitareya Āraṇyaka, iii. 1, 6; Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇ- yaka, vii. 19, and the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, iv. 5, 5, was the guarding of the teacher's cattle when they were grazing on their pasture grounds. From these grounds, too, the pupil would, no doubt, bring dried dung for fuel, as well as any available sticks. As regards obedience to the teacher, cf. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, xi. 3, 3, 6.] [
Footnote: 13) Chāndogya Upaniṣad, iv. 10; vi. 1, 2.] [
Footnote: 14) Ibid., viii. 7, 3 (thirty-two years); 15 (for life), etc.] [
Footnote: 15) See Weber, Indische Studien, 10, 21. The Sūtras allowed for a Brāhmaṇa the ages 8-16; for a Kṣatriya, 11-22; for a Vaiśya, 12-24. The difference between the Brāhmaṇa and the Kṣatriya, com- pared with that between the Kṣatriya and the Vaiśya, shows that the two latter castes were in a different position from the Brāhmaṇa.] [
Footnote: 16) Chāndogya Upaniṣad, vi. 1, 2.] [
Footnote: 17) xv. 5, 17. Cf. Lanman in Whit- ney's Translation of the Atharvaveda, 639.] [
Footnote: 18) ix. 16 (reading abrāhmaṇa) .] [
Footnote: 19) Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, iv. 2, 1.] [
Footnote: 20) Cf. Hopkins, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 13, 106-113.] [
Footnote: 21) Taittirīya Āraṇyaka, x. 65; Chān- dogya Upaniṣad, v. 10, 9.] [
Footnote: 22) Kāṭhaka Saṃhitā, xxxiv. 5; Tait- tirīya Saṃhitā, vii. 5, 9, 4; Weber, Indische Studien, 10, 125, n. 1; Keith, Śāṅkhāyana Āraṇyaka, 79.] [
Footnote: 23) Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, vi. 1, 6 (Mādhyaṃdina = vi. 2, 4 Kāṇva). Cf. von Schroeder, Indiens Literatur und Cultur, 202, 203; Jolly, Recht und Sitte, 151; Weber, op. cit., 10, 121 et seq.; Deussen, Philosophy of the Upani- shads, 370, 371, and see Brāhmaṇa.] [ID=2204]
