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

I, C] UPĀKARMA RITUAL 285. monsoon time should be devoted to the task of revising their studies. They could easily do this at home, if they only would set apart a little time for the work every day. It was therefore decided to lay it down that householders also should join the students in the Srāvaṇī ritual and take a vow to revise their studies. Students performing the Śrāvaṇī were to prosecute their studies at their schools and colleges; householders taking part in it were to revise them at home, devoting special time for the purpose and observing the rules of the student-life as far as practicable¹. **Sravani Ritual; Its Critical Survey :—**When it is remembered that Śrāvaṇī was a ritual performed by teachers and students at the beginning of the college session, and by others at the onset of the monsoon when the annual period of revision of studies commenced, we can well anticipate its nature and details. The ritual differed with different Vedic schools,² but there is one central idea common to them all, viz., on the opening day, Vedic and sacrificial deities should be offered oblations, presiding deities over intellect, memory and imagination should be propitiated, and a tribute of gratefulness should be

1. न मांसमश्रीयान्न श्राद्धम्। न लोमानि संहारयेत्। न स्त्रियमुपेयादृ तौ जायामुपेयात्। J. Gr. S., Upākarma section. 2 Thus the followers of the Rigveda used to recite the opening and concluding verses of each of the ten books of their Veda. The followers of the Yajurveda used to offer oblations to all the Vedas, Itihāsa and Purāṇa and pay tribute to the celebrated scholars of their own school like Kṛishṇa Dvaipāyana, Vaiśampāyana, and Tittiri (the authors of the Veda), Ātreya, the author of the Pada-pāṭha, Kauṇḍinya, the vṛittikāra, Baudhāyana, the pravachanakāra, Āpastamba the Sūtrakāra and to other celebrities like Satyāshāḍha, Hiraṇyakeśin, Vājasaneya, Yājñavalkya, Bhāradvāja and Agniveśya [Bau. Gr. S., III. 1]. The followers of the Sāmaveda invoked the memory of their own doctors like Jaimini, Tālavakāra, Râṇāyani, Bhāguri, etc.