THE SHUDRAS : THE DEGRADATION OF THE SHUDRAS 159
A person could wear more than one Yajnopavita,
A man must always wear Yajnopavita. If he took his meals without wearing the Yajnopavita, or answers the call of nature without having the Yajnopavita placed on the right ear, he had to undergo prayascitta, viz., to bathe, to mutter prayers and fast.
Wearing of another’s Yajnopavita along with several other things (such as shoes, ornament, garland and kamandalu) is forbidden. [1]
Three ways of wearing the Yajnopavita are recognized: (1) nivita,
(2) pracinavita and (3) upavita. When the cord is carried over the neck, both shoulders and the chest and is held with both the thumbs (of the two hands) lower than the region of the heart and above the navel, it is called nivita. Suspending the cord over the left shoulder in such a way that it hangs down on his right side, it becomes upavita. Suspending it on his right shoulder in such a way that it hangs down on his left side, it becomes pracinavita.
How did this Yajnopavita come in? Mr. Tilak offers an explanation [2] which is worth quoting. Mr. Tilak says :
“Orion or Mrigashiras is called Prajapati in the Vedic works, otherwise called Yajna. A belt or girdle of cloth round the waist of Orion or Yajna will therefore be naturally named after him as Yajnopavita, the upavita or the cloth of yajna.
The term, however, now denotes the sacred thread of the Brahmins, and it may naturally be asked whether it owes its character, if not the origin, to the belt of Orion. I think it docs on the following grounds:
The word yajnopavita is derived by all native scholars from Yajna + Upavita; but there is a difference of opinion as to whether we should understand the compound to mean an upavita for yajna i.e for sacrificial purposes, or, whether it is the ‘upavita of Yajnas.’ The former is not incorrect, but authority is in favour of the latter. Thus the Prayoga-writers quote a smriti to the effect that ‘the High Soul is termed Yajna by the hotris, this is his upavita; therefore it is yajna-upavita.’ A mantra, which is recited on the occasion of wearing the sacred thread means, ‘I bind you with the upavita of yajna’’, while the first half of the general formula with which a Brahmin always puts on his sacred thread is as follows:
यज्ञोपवीतं परमंपवित्रं प्रजापतेर्यत्सहजं पुरस्तात्
The Mantra is not to be found in any of the existing Samhitas, but is given in the Brahmopanishad and by Baudhayana. This verse is strikingly similar to the verse quoted above from the Haoma Ycsht. It says, ‘yajnopavita is high and sacred; it was born with Prajapati, of old.’ The word purastat corresponds with paurvanim in the Avesta verse and thus decides the question raised by Dr. Haug,
Kane. History of Dharmashastra Vol. II, (1), p. 293.
Orion, pp, 144-146.