Talk:Upanayanam

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Moved from Iyengar. To be incorporated in this article.

"Around puberty, every male Brahmin child undergoes the thread ceremony, also known as 'upanayanam' in Sanskrit or 'poonool' in Tamil. It is believed that the sacred thread purifies the adolescent's mind and guards him from dangers physical as well as spiritual. Post the thread ceremony, the wearer is supposed to perform daily rituals including the Sandhyavandanam."

Ambarish | Talk 20:02, 14 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Hmm, the around puberty part is one I don't think we need, although I see it is no longer in the article. Although most children receive the thread around the ages of 7-11, some even get it just a few years before their marriage. Adityan 16:59, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
I too feel that pubetry is not needed in the context as the ritual can happen at any time before the marriage. Moreover, the ritual is not only for brahmin child. It is also done for the male child from Kshyatriya and Vaishya communities. sunils 17:11, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Should this article be merged with Upanayana? nkife 02:41, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Ya, this article can be merged with the article Upanayana. Both of them talk about the same ritual. Infact, the article Upanayanam is more elaborate. sunils 17:11, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
And, unfortunately, after the merge, the wrong entry has been retained. The Sanskrit word is upanayana, not "upanayanam", which is a South Indian diction. rudra 07:18, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Caste

It's interesting that sunils mentions it is not just for Brahmins. In a lot of more 'traditionalist' thinking, for instance, in Kolkata, many people view the sacred thread ceremony as suitable only for Brahmins and Kshatriyas. Indeed, the family priest (connected with Vedic and Vaishnav lineages) have not even been approached to perform a thread ceremony on me, even though all the uncles on my mother's side have had upanayan done... why? My father's family is kaisthya (half-kshatriya, half-vaishya, to put it simplistically) while my mother's family, 'pure-blood' Rajputs, have a claim as Kshatriyas.

Maybe this page could become more rounded and reflective of actual history and mention some of these persisting dogmas. Also, puberty is commonly used in different traditions as the marking point of upanayan. There's no need to be childish and shrink from the mention of puberty just because it's related to the development of the sexual function. --LordSuryaofShropshire 04:08, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

sunils is correct: upanayana is the "second birth" that makes one a dvija, which is why Shudras have always been excluded from this samskāra. But it may actually be better, in these times of political correctness, to let sleeping dogmas lie than to bring the actual history of caturvarnya to light. rudra 07:42, 27 January 2007 (UTC)