प्राचीन भारत में शिक्षा (डॉ. ए.एस. अल्तेकर - गुरुकुल एवं बौद्ध विहार शिक्षण इतिहास)

266 EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA [App.
one, requiring the young boy to worship Sarasvatī, the
goddess of learning, Vināyaka, the god of learning,
and the tutelary deities of his family. Some authorities
prescribe a sacrifice, but probably it was not performed
everywhere. The worship of the deities was followed
by that of the primary teacher and the boy was then
handed over to him. The teacher used to make the
boy write on rice all the alphabets with the help of a
specially prepared golden or silver pen. Suitable
presents made to the teacher and the Brahmanas
invited for the ceremony marked the termination of
the ritual.
The Ritual non-existent in early Times : Why :
Vidyārambha is thus the earliest Sanskāra in the student's
life, but is does not, like Upanayana, go back to hoary
antiquity. The authorities, which prescribe and des-
cribe this ritual, are as late as the second millenium of
of the Christian era.¹ It appears indeed very strange
that the earlier works like the Grihya-sūtras and the
Dharma-sūtras, which have laid down rituals for such
relatively insignificant occasions like Grihya-nishkramaṇa
(when the child is first taken out from the house), and
anna-prāśana (when it is first given food), should have
failed to associate the commencement of the primary
education with any religious ceremony. The reason,
however, is not far to seek. Upanayana Sanskāra,
which existed even in the Vedic age, marked the begin-
ning of education in pre-historic times. There was thus
no necessity to prescribe a different Sanskāra like
aksharasvīkaraṇa (learning of the alphabet) for the simple
reason that the alphabet was then probably unknown.²

1. Viśvāmitra, Bṛhaspati, Mārkaṇḍeya, etc., who are quoted by
   these authorities, cannot be much earlier, as would be clear from
   the astronomical details mentioned by them. Such details make their
   appearance only after the 7th or the 8th century A.D.
2. The view of Dr. Bühler and others that alphabet was un-
   known in India before c. 800 B.C. has now to be abandoned in view of
   P. T. O.