Boyhood.—When five years old, the father ascertains an auspicious day, and entrusts his son to a teacher. The instructor engraves the alpha bet•with an iron style, sometimes set in silver or gold, on a leaf of the Palmyra tree, which Is then coloured with turmeric. The leaf is placed on uuhusked rice spread over the floor, and the teacher, whatever the sect or caste of the pupil be, invokes the god Vigneswara to smooth the in the way of the child's studies. Then, holding the boy's forefinger, he thrice traces with it the forms of the vowels in the rice, teaching the boy their sounds. The pedagogue is presented with a new cloth and some money, and after which relatives and friends are entertained. On the seventh or ninth year, the Upanayanam if performed, on which occasion the family priest Upad'hay-ya, SANSIC., Upa-dhialu, the boy to offer a burnt-offering, Homan, to th( entire pantheon of gods, by pouring ghi (clarifier butter) over the fire. He then invests the youtl with the zandiyam, the zonar or sacred cord letting it fall from over the left shoulder to the nigh side. He subsequently teaches the gayatri to tin boy, if he be of the Brahmanical order, as also tin morning, noontide, and evening prayers, the dui attention to which is considered sufficient to re move all sins committed during the day and night The gayatri or gayatri mantrum of the Brahman ical or priestly order is never pronounced aloud and it• is exceedingly rare that any Bralunan car be induced to divulge it. Its literal translation is O'm ! earth, air, heaven, O'm ! Let us meditate on the supreme splendour of the divine sun ; ma: he illuminate our minds.' It is considered till most sacred text of the Vedas ; and the comma] belief in and reverence for it is the bond of unioi amongst the entire Brahmanical order. With tin ceremony the boy is considered to be born again and he is of the Punar Janma, or twice born. Thi is the spiritual birth of the Hindu, or his regenera tion, for until this time the uninitiated youth hough of the Brahmanical class, so far as his right o perform religious ceremonies is concerned, a only regarded light of a Sudra. If the Vaishnava youth, who has now been initiated into the mysteries of the Brahmanical order, be set ipart for the sacerdotal office of the priesthood, he is further marked, by being branded on the muscular part of both arms with the sanku or thank, and the chakram or disc of Vishnu. This is called the Chakrankitam. From this time he is ranked as a Bralunachari, or of the order of bache lors, for he has now entered on his religious life,— the whole of the days of a spiritual Brahman being apportioned into four religious stages, viz. that of the Brahmacharyam, or bachelorhood; Grahas tasramam, or the married state ; Vanaprastam, the living in solitude with his family ; and Sanyasam, or the abandonment of all worldly matters. A bachelor's dress differs from that of a married man, in so far as he does not wear the dhoti, but only a wrapper round the lower part of the body ; he is prohibited from eating betel, and continence is enjoined. Among other Hindu castes, the Brahmachaii ceremony is performed at any time prior to the celebration of marriage, but their gayatri is from the Puranas, not the Vedas.
Marriage.—There is no time fixed for the mar riaue of sons. It is performed at any time from infancy, as the parents may please. But amongst the priestly and mercantile orders, the Brahmans and Vaisya, as also among the goldsmiths, girls must be married before they attain puberty. The Brahmans believe that they would be as if guilty of murder if they allowed a girl to grow up before being married. This is founded on correct physio logical knowledge. And in Southern India, they, as also the goldsmith tribe or race or caste, regard such a possible occurrence with so great horror, that they say it would be incumbent on them if it happened, but which is invariably guarded against, for all the family to drown themselves. Children
have no voice in the matter of their marriage. When parents are desirous of • having their sons married, they institute inquiries amongst their relatives or friends not of their own gotram or tribe. They visit the girl's parents in a propitious hour, and request their daughter in marriage for their son. The parents of the girl make inquiries as to the character of the boy, and if satisfied, they promise their daughter for him. It is not custom ary for a girl's parents to go seeking for a husband for their daughter. When so far arranged, if the girl's parents be poor, they may perhaps stipulate that jewels and money shall be presented to their daughter at the marriage time. But this practice, which is a remnant of the ancient custom of pur chasing a wife, is gradually dying out with all but the humbler people. Now-a-days, a rich Hindu would disdain to receive money from the parents of their son-in-law for giving their daughter to him, and many tribes—for India contains the de scendants of numerous distinct races—repel with disdain any insinuation of their readiness to sell their daughters. Indeed, sons-in-law do now occasionally receive some dower of money or property with their brides. In a recent instance, so much as five lakhs of rupees (250,000) are said to have been given to a son-in-law who had already four wives. But the former practice of disposal of their female children is clearly marked in their marriage law, in which a girl, who quits her father's house for her husband in another family, ceases to be an heir of her own parents, though she acquires rights in the property of her new home.
ilfnrriage Cerenionies.—W hen all the preliminary arrangements are settled, a day is fixed for the performance of the marriage ; preparations are made by the father of the girl, who invites relat ives and friends to be present on the occasion, the invitations being usually communicated verb ally, but sometimes by letter. On the day preceding that of the marriage, by the Snat'haka Varattam, the youth is relieved of his bachelorhood, the ceremony on this occasion consisting in the teotna or fire-sacrifice, and giving of charity. On the marriage eve, the bridegroom, accompanied by his parents, relatives, and friends, goes in procession to the bride's house, and presents her with a new cloth of sonic value, with any jewels that may have been before agreed on ; betel-nut is handed to the guests, and friends and relations are enter tained. The poor Brahmans, too, are remembered on the occasion, the money-gifts to whom are called Datchana. The wedding-day at length arrives, but with emotions very different from those of the principal actors in ancient Hindu times, for now-a•days both bride and bridegroom are usually quite infants,—and if not both, the bride with most tribes certainly is so. Tribes of Sudras, however, and a fair, intellectual literary race called Knit or Kayasth, who claim their origin from a deified mortal called Chatr-goputr, also many of . the Pariah tribes, allow their girls to grow up and remain in their father's house, without any feeling of shame being associated with the practice. And the Vedas teach us that in their times virtuous maidens remained unmarried in their father's house long after they had grown up. On the wedding-day, the bride and bridegroom are an ointed with oil (the Abhiangana-s'nanam), are dressed in their best, and decorated with jewels. The father of the bride has erected a tem porary canopy in the court of his house, beneath which she is seated beside her groom, and the family priest commences the ceremony by causing them to make a burnt-offering, by the homa sacrifice of pouring ghi into the fire, whilst the priest utters a mantra. At the same instant, by the Navagraha Aratanam and Asht'ha dik palaka Aratanam, a series of incantations, they bring Indra, Vanina, Agni, Yama, etc., from Swarga-locum and locate them in any casual article, in some part of the house.