Upanayana
Also called: Sacred thread ceremony · Topic: Society in Early India: Kinship, Varna-Jati, Women · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Upanayana is the sacred thread ceremony. It was a rite in which a boy from one of the three upper varnas (Brahmana, Kshatriya or Vaishya) received the sacred thread and began studying the Vedas with a teacher. The Dharma texts did not allow Shudras to have it. Over time, women were also shut out of it. It is one of the sixteen samskaras, or life-cycle rites.
Example
Boys who went through upanayana were called dvija, meaning "twice-born", because the rite was treated as a second, spiritual birth. Because Shudras were denied it, they were kept away from Vedic learning, which helped keep the varna order unequal.
Don't confuse with
- Vivaha (marriage): another samskara. For women, later Dharma texts treated marriage as taking the place of upanayana.