Introductory

In the earliest enumeration of the Samskara by Gautama, the Vedarambha and the Godana are not mentioned. Instead, he gives the four Vedic Vratas, "Catvari Vedavratani," which according to Asvalayana, were Mahanamni, Mahavratam, Upanisad and Godana. Besides, special rites were prescribed before the reading of a Veda or its branch. Though these vratas were originally intended for all the twice born, they were probably observed in the priestly families alone, because it were they who used to specialize in all the branches of the Vedas and the Vedic rituals. The non Branhmans gradually gave up the practice of performing the Vedic vratas or vows. In course of time, the non Vedic literature grew in extent and importance and came to be studied extensively by the Brahmans. The Vedic literature was less and less studied. So with the decline of the Vedic study these vratas began to pass out of vouge. They are not mentioned in the majority of the Gruhyasutras and the Dharmasutras and are altogether passed over by the Smritis. But respect for the old tradition required that there should be one samskara that could take the place of the vedic vows and mark the beginning of higher education. Thus the Vedarambha sprang on the ruins of the ancient vedic vratas. This is the reason why the vedarambha appeared so late in the list of the samskaras. Vyasa mentions it for the first time.

The Origin

There was one more change in the history of the samskaras which necessitated the existence of the vedarambha as a separate samskara. In the beginning the upanayana and the study of the vedas began almost together. The former was a real going of the child to the house of the teacher and was immediately followed by studentship. The vedic study was supposed to begin with the most sacred Gayatri mantra. But in later times, when Sanskrit ceased to be a spoken language or a widely understood one the upanayana became merely a bodily samskara. Then it was performed when the student had already begun the study of his vernacular, and the nominal Acharya by whom the samskara performed had no intention to take the student in his own charge. Therefore it was thought necessary to perform another samskara, besides the upanayana, to mark the beginning of the vedic study.

A New Samskara

The samskara, as already pointed out, is first mentioned in the Vyasa Smriti. It differentiates the Vratadesa (a new name of the upanayana) from the vedarambha. During the time of the author, the first had nothing to do with study, but the second was purely an educational samskara performed at the time when the student actually began his vedic study. The later paddhati writers have recognized the distinction between the upanayana and the vedarambha and they insert the latter between the upanayana and the samavartana.

The Ceremonies