General questions

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 28 Sep 2000, Ashish Chandra wrote:

> But I wanted to know how. Like the janeu makes one a dvija and entitles one
> to study the 3 Vedas, what specific karma or thing is associated with the
> Shikha. I know that the Shankaracharyas keep asking us to keep a Shikha, and
> during the last 4 months, 3.5 of which I was in India, I came across several
> people and some sadhus who commended me on keeping one.
>
> I have vaguely heard things about Shikha being somehow related to the
> Brahmarandra chakra at the top of the head but I wanted to know exactly the
> what/how/whys.
>

That's an interesting question.  The earliest reference I have seen is in
the Katyayana Shrauta sutra where when discussing the preliminaries of the
darshapaurnamaseshti (a yajna which is performed every new and full moon)
it says, "Optionally he should shave his head except the shikha."  So
already by this time it seems the practice was so common it could be
assumed without further explanation.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>

--
bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam

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