उपनयनम्Upanayana, investiture with the sacred thread
Verse 187
गर्भाष्टमेऽष्टमे वाऽब्दे कुर्यादुपनयं शिशोः । षोड़शाब्दाधिको नोपनेतव्यो निष्क्रियोऽपि सः ॥ १८७ ॥
garbhāṣṭamē’ṣṭamē vā’bdē kuryādupanayaṁ śiśōḥ | ṣōḍaśābdādhikō nōpanētavyō niṣkriyō’pi saḥ || 187 ||
Translation
In the eighth year from conception or the eighth year from birth he should perform the boy's investiture. One past sixteen years is not to be invested; he is without rites.
Word by word
- garbha
- from conception
- aṣṭamē
- in the eighth
- vā
- or
- abdē
- year
- kuryāt
- he should perform
- upanayaṁ
- the investiture
- śiśōḥ
- of the boy
- ṣōḍaśa
- (ṣoḍaśa) sixteen
- abda
- years
- adhikaḥ
- (adhikaḥ) past
- na
- not
- upanētavyaḥ
- (upanetavyaḥ) is to be invested
- niṣkriyaḥ
- (niṣkriyaḥ) without rites
- api
- and
- saḥ
- he
Meaning
The ṭīkā: a boy past sixteen without the thread is niṣkriya, "without rites", excluded from the rites for gods and ancestors.
Commentary
Hariharānanda Bhāratī’s Sanskrit commentary, translated
"Garbha" and the rest. In the eighth year from conception, or in the eighth year from birth, he should perform the upanaya, the upanayana (investiture), of the child, the boy. A boy past sixteen, who has passed his sixteenth year, is not to be invested; that boy becomes niṣkriya, without rites, without the rites for the gods and ancestors.