THE PEOPLE AND THEIR CULTURE

THREAD CEREMONY

The thread ceremony still persists, though it must be conceded it has lost its old significance. It marks in theory the end of childhood and entrance in the stage of studenthood known formerly as Brahmacarya Asrama. At the age of eight in the case of a Brahman, ten in the case of a Ksatriya and 12 in the case of a Vaisya, the boy is given in charge of a preceptor who used to have complete control over him for 12 years as regards his intellectual, cultural or specialised training. There were probably even no vacations for returning to home for small durations.

Now at the prescribed age, the upanayana (i.e., taking a pupil near the guru) does take place and the student stage does seriously begin but under altogether altered circumstances. Even in the ceremony itself it is the father who acts as the guru who teaches the Gayatri to the boy, whose education in the three R's has already begun a year or two before. The Gayatri is an incantation to the sun for intellectual enlightenment, because it was rightly regarded that the sun is really the giver of life to all living creatures on earth including human beings.

This ceremony is known in common parlance as munja because a girdle made of the munja grass is used for the boy, but its other variant names equally in use arc upanayana, vratabandha and maunji-bandhana. An auspicious day is selected in one of the five months, viz., Caitra, Vaisakha, Jyestha, Magha and Phalguna in consultation with an astrologer who examines the horoscope of the boy concerned and gives his advice. In order to accommodate guests who would be invited to be present at the ceremony, it is usual to erect a mandap and decorate it with a plantain trees arch at the entrance, and mango twigs and flowers elsewhere. Drummers and pipers are engaged and friends and relatives are informed about the event in advance. On the western side of the mandap, an altar called bahule is raised with its face to the east. As the day comes near, dinner parties known as kelvan or gadagner are given by intimate and near relatives and friends to the boy and his parents. A day or two before the day of the upanayana, the parents of the boy first visit the local Ganesh temple and sometimes other temples also and invite the deities to be present at the ceremony with their retinue. Rice besmeared with red powder is placed before the deities while the invitation is solemnly given. A pinchful of rice is similarly handed to friends and relatives also while extending such invitation to them.

The elaborate ritual starts early in the morning of the fixed day. Musicians and pipers start playing on their instruments and one of the officiating priests sets up the ghatika (water clock) to keep exact time. This has really become unnecessary in modern days when accurate watches and clocks are available, but a special sanctity is attached to the ghatika patra. This is followed by what is known as the ghana performance. Two mussals (pestles) are tied together with a new khan (bodice cloth) and a basket filled with rice or wheat is set before the boy and his parents. Five suvasinis (married women with their husbands alive preferably blessed with a son or sons) take the pestles in their hands, set them upright in the basket and move them up and down as if to pound the grains. They sing some auspicious songs as they do so. One of the women takes a handful of corn and grinds it in the pair of crushers (jate) which is decorated with kumkum and to whose handle a new bodice cloth is tied.

Before the ceremony proper, there is the Matrka pujana, Punyahavacana, Nandisraddha, and Devakapratistha as before a wedding ceremony. Matrkapujana is the worship of Matrkas or goddesses represented by areca-nuts in a receptacle. Punyaha-vacana is invoking of the day-deity to be gracious. Nandisraddha is invocation to the spirits of the forefathers of the family to he present and give their blessings. Devakapratistha is the installation of the Mandapdevatas or booth guardians represented by some areca-nuts properly placed in a winnowing fan and duly worshipped. After this the boy, and his mother are seated on two pats (low stools) and to the accompaniment of soft music and songs sung by young women relatives, lighted lamps are waved before them. This is followed by the ceremonial shaving of the boy's head. Only a tuft of hair is left at the hack. The barber is given a present and a fee for this service. The boy is bathed and dressed and he dines in the mother's plate for the last. time. Usually eight boys of his age or any multiple of eight are fed on the occasion and given gifts in coin. This is called matrbhojan and is supposed to mark the end of the child stage of the boy. After this the boy is ready for the main part of the ceremony.

The boy is made to stand on a pat and the father sits on another. They face each other. A sacred cloth curtain is held between them by priests holding the extremities in their hands. Then follows the recitation of mangalastakas or lucky compositions chiefly in Sanskrit. Those present frequently throw red rice on them as the chanting goes on. At the fixed, auspicious moment the curtain is removed, when the priests have raised their chanting to the highest pitch, the drumplayers do the same, the boy falls at the feet of the father, he picks him up and takes him on his lap on the right side. Distribution of pansupari, perfume and rose water to the guests follows. It is usual to distribute sweets and cocoanuts also. The guests then leave, some of them making some present or other to the boy.

At this point the real upanayana ceremony begins. The chief priest and Brahmans throw some holy rice and water on the boy's head. He is seated to the right of the father. A sthandila or earthen altar is made in front of the father, blades of kusha grass are spread over it and holy fire is kindled on it. The priest has a cotton string, smeared in oil and turned round the boy's wrist and gives him a langoti or loin cloth piece to wear. Another piece of cloth is placed on his shoulder. A string with a piece of deer skin passed into it is hung on his left shoulder in the way the sacred thread or Yajnopavita is worn. Offerings of ghee, sesamum and seven kinds of dry twigs of various trees are offered to the holy fire. The boy is asked to pass between the sacrificial fire and his father, sip three acamnas (spoonfuls of water) and repeat some texts from the Vedas. He then goes back between the fire and his father and resumes his seat. After a while, with folded hands he approaches the priest with a prayer that he may be initiated in the Brahmacaryasrama. His request is granted. He is given a yajnopavita, a staff of palasa tree and a sermon on how to conduct himself as a Brahmacari. He is taught the Gayatrimantra with his face upturned towards the sun. Some more oblations to the holy fire follow, the boy is made to repeat the Gayatrimantra and the main ritual comes to an end.

The boy has now become a beggar (in the exalted sense). He is to subsist on what he gets by begging and pursue his studies. But this is only theory. This begging is now-a-days turned into an occasion of festivity. A procession is organised, bands play, friends and relatives with gay clothes on join it and everybody showers his presents on the boy. The last rite is the medhajanana which is a formal prayer to the goddess of mind who is asked to give the boy knowledge, health and wealth.

The Samavartana or the coming back of the boy from his preceptor's house used to take place after 12 years arduous study once upon a time. Now it takes place as soon as possible, sometimes within a week and the boy never leaves his house. This is known as Sodmunj in common parlance. The boy formally gives up his Brahmacarya Asram almost as soon as he has entered on it at the request of his maternal uncle who asks him to marry his daughter. The ceremony has thus become a misnomer but is often gone through by sheer force of custom and tradition.

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