Samskara (rite of passage)


Samskara are sacraments in Hinduism and other Indian religions, described in ancient Sanskrit texts, as well as a concept in the karma theory of Indian philosophies. The word literally means "putting together, making perfect, getting ready, to prepare", or "a sacred or sanctifying ceremony" in ancient Sanskrit and Pali texts of India.
In the context of karma theory, samskaras are dispositions, characters or behavioural traits that exist as default from birth or prepared and perfected by a person over one's lifetime, that exist as imprints on the subconscious according to various schools of Hindu philosophy such as the Yoga school. These perfected or default imprints of karma within a person, influences that person's nature, response and states of mind.
In another context, Samskara refers to the diverse sacraments in Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. In Hinduism, the samskaras vary in number and details according to regional traditions. They range from the list of 40 samskaras in the Gautama Dharmasutra from about the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, to 16 samskaras in the Grhyasutra texts from centuries later. The list of samskaras in Hinduism include both external rituals such as those marking a baby's birth and a baby's name giving ceremony, as well as inner rites of resolutions and ethics such as compassion towards all living beings and positive attitude.

Etymology and meaning

Saṃskāra has various context-driven meanings, that broadly refer to "the putting together, accomplishing well, making perfect, a form of solemn recognition and getting ready, engaging in works and acknowledging the purification of body by cleansing or mind by education or an object by a process ". The term appears in the Śrutis, and in the Smritis of diverse schools of Hinduism as well as the texts of Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. The etymological roots of the word samskara when it refers to rites of passage, is also "preparation, purifying, perfecting" from one's past state to one's future state.
The word samskara is rare in the oldest layer of Vedic literature, but its roots sam and kr occur often enough. The word appears in Rig Veda hymns 6.28.4 and 8.33.9, as well as other Vedic texts, where the context suggests it simply means "purify, prepare". It appears in Jaimini Purvamimamsa-sutra many times, where it again means "prepare, perfect, polish" something, either through action, speech or mind. In sections 3.8.3, 9.3.25 and 10.2.49 of the Jaimini Purvamimamsa-sutra, the word samskara is used to describe actions of "washing the teeth, shaving the head, cutting nails, sprinkling water" as part of a ceremony. Samskara is defined by ancient Indian scholar Shabara as, "that which prepares a certain thing or person fit for a certain purpose". Another ancient text Viramitrodaya defines samskara, notes Kane, as "a peculiar excellence due to performance of certain actions which resides in the soul or the body of the actor".
samskara in Hindu traditions, states Kane, have been ceremonies, expressing outward symbols or signs of inner change, marking life events of significance. They served a spiritual, cultural and psychological purpose, welcoming an individual into a stage of life, conferring privileges to the individual, expecting duties from the individual, and impressing on the individual as well individual's social circle of their new role.
Sanskāra, in modern usage, is sometimes used to mean "cultural, social or religious heritage".

Samskara as a psychological concept

In the context of karma theory, Samskara are dispositions, character or behavioral traits either as default from birth, or Samskara are behavioral traits perfected over time through Yoga, through conscious shaping of inner self, one's desire, sense of moral responsibility and through practice. In some schools of Hinduism, the psychological concept of samskara is also known as vāsanā.
These are viewed as traces or temperament that evolves through the refinement of an individual inner consciousness and expressed personality, and is a form of "being-preparedness" in Vedantic psychology. In Samkhya and Yoga schools, samskara – also spelled as Samksara – are impressions or residues that affect an individual's Gunas. In Nyaya school of Hinduism, not all Samskara are psychological. In these schools of Hinduism, rites of passage, other actions, studies, diligent preparation and inner resolutions trigger impressions or dispositions in the psyche of an individual. These influences determine how the individual acts, perceives themselves, and responds to or accepts karmic circumstances and the future.

Samskara as sacraments

Samskaras in Hinduism are sacraments that begin with one's birth, celebrate certain early steps in a baby's growth and their welcome into the world in the presence of friends and family, then various stages of life such as first learning day, graduation from school, wedding and honeymoon, pregnancy, raising a family, as well as those related to final rites associated with cremation. These rites of passage are not uniform, and vary within the diverse traditions of Hinduism. Some may involve formal ceremonies, yajna ceremonies with the chanting of Vedic hymns. Others are simple, private affairs involving a couple, with or without friends, other families or a religious person such as a priest or a pandit.
Samskaras are not considered as an end in themselves, but are means of social recognition as well as the passage of a person from one significant stage of life to another. Various elements of samskaras and rituals of passage are mentioned in Vedas of Hinduism, one of the oldest known scriptures in the world. The most extensive, but divergent discussions of these rites of passage are found in the numerous Dharmasutras and Grhyasutras from the 1st millennium BCE. Many of these rites of passage include formal ceremonies, with ritual readings of hymns, chants and ethical promises, aiming to orient the individual to that which is considered part of dharma, and essential actions such as those associated with last rites and cremation, charitable works, or out of sraddha or items of faith.

The purpose

Gautama Dharmasutra enumerates a large list of "forty outer karma samskaras" and "eight inner karma samskara ", all of whom have the purpose of empowering a human being to discover, recognize and reach union with the Brahma-Atman. The ultimate purpose is to inculcate virtues, and samskaras are viewed in the Hindu tradition as means – not as ends – towards ripening and perfecting the human journey of life. The eight good qualities listed by Gautama Dharmasutra are emphasized as more important than the forty samskara rituals, in verses 8.21-8.25, as follows,

The 40 Samskaras

The Gautama Dharmasutra list the following forty rituals as outer samskaras:
  • Garbhadhana, Pumsavana, Simantonnayana, Jatakarman, Namakarana, Annaprashana, Choulam, and Upanayana ;
  • the four vows associated with Vedic study;
  • graduation ritual at the conclusion of school;
  • marriage sva-dharma rite;
  • five sacrifices to gods, ancestors, humans, spirits, and all knowledge;
  • seven remembrances and donations using cooked food, in the form of ancestral offerings
  • seven remembrances and donations in the presence of fire, to mark harvests, seasons and deities
  • seven kinds of Soma sacrifices: agnistoma, atyagnistoma, ukthya, sodasin, vajapeya, atiratra and aptoryama.
To obtain union with Brahman, one must also possess the eight virtues.

The 16 samskaras

There are diverse number of samskaras in Hinduism, varying by texts between 12 and 18 in the Grhyasutras. Of these, 16 are referred to as "Shodasha Samskaras".

Intent to have a child ritual, Garbhadhana

, also called Garbhalambhanam, literally means attaining the wealth of the womb. It is a private rite of passage, marking the intent of a couple to have a child. It is a ceremony performed before conception and impregnation. In some ancient texts, the word simply refers to the rite of passage where the couple have sex to have a child, and no ceremonies are mentioned. Scholars trace this rite to Vedic hymns, such as those in sections 8.35.10 through 8.35.12 of the Rigveda, where repeated prayers for progeny and prosperity are solemnized,
The Vedic texts have many passages, where the hymn solemnizes the desire for having a child, without specifying the gender of the child. For example, the Rigveda in section 10.184 states,
The desire for progeny, without mentioning gender, is in many other books of the Rigveda, such as the hymn 10.85.37. The Atharva Veda, similarly in verse 14.2.2, states a ritual invitation to the wife, by her husband to mount the bed for conception, "being happy in mind, here mount the bed; give birth to children for me, your husband". Later texts, such as the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, in the last chapter detailing the education of a student, include lessons for his Grihastha stage of life. There, the student is taught, that as a husband, he should cook rice for the wife, and they together eat the food in certain way depending on whether they wish for the birth of a daughter or a son, as follows,
According to Shankaracharya, rather than meat the inner pulp of two fruits is cooked with rice.
The different Grhyasutras differ in their point of view, whether the garbhadhana is to be performed only once, before the first conception, or every time before the couple plan to have additional children. To answer this question, the medieval era texts of various schools discussed and offered diverse views on whether the ritual is a rite of passage for the baby's anticipation in the womb, or for the wife. A rite of passage of the baby would imply that Garbhadhana samskara is necessary for each baby and therefore every time the couple intend to have a new baby, while a rite of passage of the wife would imply a one time ritual suffices.