Vidyārambha

विद्यारम्भ

Also written: vidyarambha · vidyārambha · vidyarambha sanskar · vidyarambha ceremony

Vidyārambha (विद्यारम्भ) is the tenth of the sixteen saṃskāras. The beginning of learning — the first letter written.


Number	10 of 16
Stage of life	Education
Performed	Around the fifth year
Purpose	The beginning of learning — the first letter written.

What the rite is and why

The child writes its first letters, traditionally in rice or sand, guided by the parent or teacher, after worship of Sarasvatī and Gaṇeśa.

The first thing written is usually a sacred syllable or a short invocation, so that literacy begins as an offering rather than a utility.

In Kerala and much of the south this is vidyārambham on Vijayadaśamī, and it is performed for thousands of children on the same morning.

Strongly alive — akṣarābhyāsa, vidyārambham, hāte khaḍi — and observed by many families irrespective of formal schooling.