Upanayanan.

1817 tr. Dubois' Descr. People of India ii. i. 92 The children of Brahmans are invested with the Cord when they come to the age of seven or nine years... The ceremony..is called Upanayana, or, the Introduction to the Sciences.

1817 tr. Dubois' Descr. People of India ii. i. 92 I had some difficulty in bringing myself to detail the whole of this ceremony of the Upanayana, it is so filled with minute and trifling superstition.

1877 J. N. Wilson Indian Caste I. v. 188 The Upanayana (or sacrificial endowment with the string) of a Bráhman should take place in his seventh year.

1919 S. Cave Redemption Hindu & Christian iv. 97 The three higher castes alone can perform the upanayana ceremony, they alone can qualify themselves for the study of the Veda.

1935 L. S. S. O'Malley Pop. Hinduism iv. 112 For the twice-born castes the most essential is the upanayan or investiture with the sacred thread, which takes place in a boy's eighth, eleventh or twelfth year according to his caste.

1950 M. K. Gandhi Hindu Dharma lv. 91 The upanayanam ceremony, though I have discarded it myself, it has..a deep meaning. The sacred thread is a sign of new birth, a regeneration.

1971 Illustr. Weekly India 4 Apr. 11/1 Among all the sixteen sanskars, the upanayana is the most important. It signifies the practice of making over a boy to a learned religious teacher for education.