upanayanam ... at what age?

[Guest guest]

The word Upanayanam can be split into Upa and Nayanam. Upa means near

and nayanam means going - that is the act of going to a teacher to

learn. Grihyasutras prescribe the age for Upanayanam as eight years

old at " GarbhaashTamam " (1 + 7 ) - which includes the period spent in

the womb of the mother - that is Garbha vasam. So it is 7 years. The

reason why the sutras prescribe the age for a Kshatriya at 11 and a

Vaishya as 12 must be because in the ancient times the father was the

guru in Brahmin household whereas the Kshatriya and Vaishya children

had to leave home for their education, they could leave their house

only when they were capable of taking care of themselves. I also read

that Upanayanam is usually performed at the age of seven because till

that age a child gets the benefits of the karmas of its parents

and after that age it has to learn and perform karmas on its own.

 

it is appropriate to perform upanayanam before 16 years.