Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/299

Rh the well-known Annaprasana ceremony. The child seems to have been allowed a greater variety of food in the olden days than at the present time. Thus, Asvalayana and Sankhayana declare that he should partake of "goat's flesh, if he be desirous of nourishment; flesh of partridge, if desirous of holy lustre; boiled rice with ghee, if desirous of splendour," to which Paraskara adds such foods as "flesh of that bird called Bharadvaji, if he wishes fluency of speech, and fish, if swiftness be desired."

Tonsure.—This was performed when the child was one year old, according to Sankhayana and Paraskara, or when the child was in his third year, according to Asvalayana and Gobhila. The child's head was shaved with a razor with the recitation of certain Vedic verses (but without them in the case of a girl), and some hair was left and arranged according to the custom of the family.

Initiation. This was an important ceremony, and was performed when a boy was entrusted by his father or guardian to the teacher for education. The age of initiation, as we have seen before, varied in the case of Brahmans, Kshatriyas, and Vaisyas, and the sacred thread was worn on this occasion by all the three castes.

Return from school.—The student, after he had finished his education, returned to his home, and if he had no ancestral house to go to, had to build a house. This, too, was accompanied by a ceremony, and by the utterance of the hymns of the Rig-Veda to Vastospati, the lord of dwelling-houses, as well as to other