2021, Vol. 7, Issue 1, Part A

author(s)
Bhagyasree Sarma

abstract
The word ‘Samāvartana’ generally means ‘return’, especially a pupil’s return home after finishing his course of holy studies. The derivation of the word Samāvartana is “Saṁ ā bṛt lyuṭ”. There are four stages in human life and these are called as Caturāśrama. These are- Brahmacarjya, Gārhasthya, Vānaprastha and Sanyāsa. Among these four stages of life the Brahmacarjya is very important and significant stage of life. It is the stage of gaining knowledge which is the ultimate property for a human being. In the Vedic period the students had to stay in Gurugṛha i.e at the residence of the teacher. Then the student is called as Brahmacārī. Along with their studies, the students had to do some household activities too in the Gurugṛha. After completing their studies they had to return to their Gārhasthya stage of life. So, at the close of the Brahmacarjya stage, there was performed a special kind of rite called Samāvartana and recognized the student as graduated.