# ब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya)

Canonical page: https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/brahmacharya

ब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya) is a Sanskrit word meaning study of the Veda, the state of an unmarried religious student, a state of continence and chastity, sacred study and the life of a student, chastity and abstinence, religious studentship. Its 6 recorded definitions are grouped into 3 contexts, among them Core Concept: Religious Study, Studentship, Chastity, Detailed Account of Brahmacarya Lifestyle and Āśrama, The Person: Religious Student.

- **Roots:** ग्रह् (grah), गम् (gam), इ (i)
- **SLP1:** `brahmacarya`  **IAST:** brahmacarya  **Devanagari:** ब्रह्मचर्य
- **Wikipedia:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmacharya
- **Declensions:** 48 forms — https://sanskritlexicon.com/word/brahmacharya/declensions.md
- **Other headwords romanised the same way:** ब्रह्मचर्या (brahmacaryā)

## Meanings by context

### Core Concept: Religious Study, Studentship, Chastity (4 definitions)
- 1. Study of the Veda. 2. The state of an unmarried religious student. 3. A state of continence and chastity.  
  *Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899)*
  > (H3) [Printed book page 738,2] ब्रह्म (brahma) — चर् (car) य (—carya) n. study of the Veda, the state of an unmarried religious student, a state of continence and chastity (also f( आ (ā) )., Hariv. ), AV. &c. &c. ( acc. with √ ग्रह् (grah), चर् (car), वस् (vas), आ (ā)- (ā-) √ गम् (√gam), उप - (upa-) √ इ (√i), to practise ch°; cf. - चारिन् (-cārin) ) [ ID=146653 ]
- 1. Religious studentship. 2. Chastity, celibacy, or abstinence.  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya) [Printed book page 512-24 ] ब्रह्मन् - चर्य (brahman-carya) (I) n. 1. the condition of a Brāhmaṇa lad in the first period of his life, religious studentship, अविप्लुतब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya) ो गृहस्थाश्रममावसेत् (aviplutabrahmacaryo gṛhasthāśramamāvaset) M. iii.2; 2. chastity, celibacy, abstinence. [ ID=26809 ]
- 1. Sacred study and the life of a student. 2. Chastity and abstinence.  
  *Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya) [Printed book page 367 ] ब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya) n. sacred study, the life and condition of a Brahman student, esp. abstinence, chastity; poss. ° वन्त् (°vant) †. [ ID=22309 ]
- 1. Life of holiness or chastity. 2. Religious studentship as the first stage of life.  
  *Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary*
  > ब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya) [Printed book page 202-a ] brahma-cárya, n. life of holiness ( bráhman ), walk and conversation of a Brahman student ( brahmán ), esp. chastity; religious studentship, the first of the four periods of a Brahman's life, see āśrama. [ bráhman ( 1249a 2 ) or brahmán (probably both) + carya, equiv. of caryā: acct, 1272, 1213e.] [ ID=2918 ]

### Detailed Account of Brahmacarya Lifestyle and Āśrama (1 definition)
- the condition of life of a religious student  
  *The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects*
  > ब्रह्मचर्य (brahmacarya) [Printed book page 2-074 ] Brahma-carya denotes the condition of life of the Brahma- cārin 1 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 ]

### The Person: Religious Student (1 definition)
- a religious student  
  *Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary*
  > ब्रह्मन् - चर्य (brahman-carya) (II) m. a religious student. [ ID=26810 ]

## Sources

Definitions from Cappeller Sanskrit-English Dictionary; Lanman's Sanskrit Reader Vocabulary; Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899); The Vedic Index of Names and Subjects; Vaidya Sanskrit-English Dictionary.
Text from the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon, University of Cologne.

The Sanskrit Lexicon app for iPhone, iPad and Mac: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sanskrit-lexicon-dictionary/id6746787546