उपनयन

upa-nayana

n. the act of leading to orﾠ near, bringing R. BhP. Vikr. ;

employment, application Car. ;
introduction (into any science) Prab. ;
leading orﾠ drawing towards one's self;
that ceremony in which a Guru draws a boy towards himself andﾠ initiates him into one of the three twice-born classes
(one of the twelve Saṃskāras orﾠ purificatory rites
<prescribed in the Dharma-sūtras andﾠ explained in the Gṛihya-sūtras>
in which the boy is invested with the sacred thread
(different for the three castes)
andﾠ thus endowed with second orﾠ spiritual birth andﾠ qualified to learn the Veda by heart;
a Brāhman is initiated in the eighth year <orﾠ seventh according to Hiranyakeṡin;
orﾠ eighth from conception, according to Ṡāṇkhāyana etc.>, a Kshatriya in the eleventh, a Vaiṡya in the twelfth;
but the term could be delayed);
seeﾠ IW. p. 201 RTL. p. 360 seqq. ;
ĀṡvGṛ. I, 19-22 ṠāṇkhGṛ. II, 1-6 PārGṛ. II, 2-5 Gobh. II, 10 HirGṛ. I, 1 seqq. Mn. II, 36 Yājñ. I, 14.