DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0373
The Sacred Thread or Cord. 361
prayer, or repeat the Veda, or engage in any single religious
service or sacrificial rite. Nor was any ceremonial observance
effectual unless the thread was worn. Indeed even in the
present day a Brahman before initiation has no right to any
other name than Vipra. It is only when he has been invested
with the sacred thread that he has a right to the title Dvi-ja,
' twice-born.' Nor ought the name Brahman to be applied to
him until the assumption of the thread has qualified him to
learn the Veda (Brahma) by heart.
If we inquire a little closely into the nature of the sacred
symbol supposed to be capable of effecting so vast a trans-
formation in a human being's condition, we find that now, as
formerly, it consists of three slender cotton threads—white in
colour to typify purity, and tied together in one spot by a
sacred knot of peculiar construction (called brahma-granthi),
each of the three threads also consisting of three finer threads
tightly twisted into one. The construction of this cord is no
doubt simple, but it must be borne in mind that the thread when
formed is of no use unless blessed by Brahmans and consecrated
by the recitation of Vedic texts. The texts usually repeated
during the process of arranging the threads are the Gayatri
and certain other texts from the Black Yajur-veda. At the
same time holy water is repeatedly sprinkled on the cord
by means of Kusa grass. So soon as the Hindu boy had
been made regenerate by the solemn putting on of this mystic
symbol his religious education and spiritual life really began.
And now for the first time he was taught to repeat that
remarkable Vedic prayer for illumination called Savitri, or
Gayatri (from Rig-veda III. 6a. io), thus translatable: 'Let
us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Vivifier, may
he illumine our understandings,'—that most ancient of all
Aryan prayers, which was first uttered more than three
thousand years ago, and which still rises day by day
towards heaven, incessantly ejaculated by millions of our
Indian fellow-subjects. Then, again, every initiated boy was
prayer, or repeat the Veda, or engage in any single religious
service or sacrificial rite. Nor was any ceremonial observance
effectual unless the thread was worn. Indeed even in the
present day a Brahman before initiation has no right to any
other name than Vipra. It is only when he has been invested
with the sacred thread that he has a right to the title Dvi-ja,
' twice-born.' Nor ought the name Brahman to be applied to
him until the assumption of the thread has qualified him to
learn the Veda (Brahma) by heart.
If we inquire a little closely into the nature of the sacred
symbol supposed to be capable of effecting so vast a trans-
formation in a human being's condition, we find that now, as
formerly, it consists of three slender cotton threads—white in
colour to typify purity, and tied together in one spot by a
sacred knot of peculiar construction (called brahma-granthi),
each of the three threads also consisting of three finer threads
tightly twisted into one. The construction of this cord is no
doubt simple, but it must be borne in mind that the thread when
formed is of no use unless blessed by Brahmans and consecrated
by the recitation of Vedic texts. The texts usually repeated
during the process of arranging the threads are the Gayatri
and certain other texts from the Black Yajur-veda. At the
same time holy water is repeatedly sprinkled on the cord
by means of Kusa grass. So soon as the Hindu boy had
been made regenerate by the solemn putting on of this mystic
symbol his religious education and spiritual life really began.
And now for the first time he was taught to repeat that
remarkable Vedic prayer for illumination called Savitri, or
Gayatri (from Rig-veda III. 6a. io), thus translatable: 'Let
us meditate on that excellent glory of the divine Vivifier, may
he illumine our understandings,'—that most ancient of all
Aryan prayers, which was first uttered more than three
thousand years ago, and which still rises day by day
towards heaven, incessantly ejaculated by millions of our
Indian fellow-subjects. Then, again, every initiated boy was