PART II
THE FOUR STATES OF BRAHMINICAL LIFE
CHAPTEE I
The Brahmachari.— Ceremony of the Upanayana, or Investiture of the
Triple Cord.
In this Second Part I will bring to notice the most remarkable peculiarities of the Brahmin caste, the one of all others which clings most tenaciously to long established customs. Europeans have possessed up to the present time but very imperfect information on this subject, and
what little information has been obtained has been taken as it were by stealth from the Brahmins, whose constant
endeavour it is to veil their customs in mystery. I think that the details I am about to give will in consequence be found of considerable interest. These customs, however, do not belong exclusively to the Brahmin caste; some of them are common to other castes as well.
The life of a Brahmin has to be considered under four
important aspects. The first is that of the young Brahmin who has been invested with the triple cord, and who is
from that time called Brahmachari. The second is that of the Brahmin who has married, and who is thenceforward, but especially after he has become a father, called Grahastha. The third is that of the Brahmin who, renouncing the world, retires into the jungles with his wife, and who is then known as Vana-prastha( or dweller in the jungle).
The fourth, and last, is the state of Sannyasi, or that of the Brahmin who decides to live entirely in solitude, apart even from his wife, a mode of life considered even more edifying than Vana-prastha.
It is well known that all Brahmins wear a thin cord \ hung from the left shoulder and falling on to the right
hip. It is composed of three strands of cotton, each strand
1
This cord is called yagnopavitam in Sanskrit, jandemu in Telugu punul in Tamil, jcnivara in Canarese. Dubois.