1

Dvija
In this paper I will explore the significance of the word dvija, which is developed
around the construction of knowledge and education in Indian philosophical
schools. In the contemporary world, quality of institutionalized education is
degraded to the extent where the process of becoming human is slowed down of
the individual (Robinson 2001). When I talk about the process of becoming
human, I presuppose that the role of education is to facilitate the learning and one
needs to undergo some basic training of processing stream of data to comprehend
the world more effectively. The more one gets into the process of learning, they
can relate to the world outside more effectively to actually take a step ahead to
shape their own institutions in new ways according to the modern-day
requirements.
The word dvija, is further split between two elements dvi(two) + ja(born). Which
simply means the one who is born twice. In the textual context we see that this
word is used to refer to the birds and more importantly a man of any one of the
first 3 classes. It is premised on the concept of rebirth, where one is re-born
through investiture with the sacred thread (upa-nayana). After the upa-nayana
saṃskār the one was sent to the school for Vedic studies (Mittal 2004).
In this essay we will not take into the account, the gender of that person or any
class or caste of that person to be eligible to go into the school or not. In the
modern world we realize that everyone should get equal opportunity for basic
education and everyone should be treated on the principle of equality irrespective
of their gender, caste or any other category.
According to me this word dvija is more of a metaphor used for a person who is
exposed to the external world from the secure protection of the cocoon. The very
word dvija basically means oviparous (egg-laying) bird. The bird is born first
time when birds lay a fertilized egg. This very act of fertilization of egg is
somewhat related to human beings when women gets pregnant. But in case of
human being process is little different where egg is conceived inside the womb
itself and not outside. When the egg is laid by bird, the existence of the bird is
already there residing in the eggshell. Same way the growth of human embryo
takes place inside the womb of the mother. In case of the birds, eggshell acts as a
protecting cover to protect the embryo. In the incubation period multiple and
various factors are vital for the growth of the embryo. This is the period when
embryo is nourished extensively so that baby bird breaks that shell by itself and
come into the world, this very second birth is referred when birds are called dvija.

Abhijeet Kulkarni| Roll no. 163603001|TTIP|Date:10 Nov 2016|Assignment-6

 2

The bird gets completely independent once they are fully grown and fly away
from the home.
This very idea of complete independence and relating to the world outside is
incorporated when the word dvija is used for human beings who undergo
investiture with the sacred thread. Here it is not to be misunderstood that human
beings are complete when upa-nayan saṃskār takes place but the process of
becoming complete starts from that very moment.
The protective cover of egg is compared to the protective shield developed by the
family to protect their baby child till age of 8 to 12 (Mookerji 1989) where their
physical development is ensured and cared at home. So this protective cocoon is
not some physical shield actually protecting the human kids in the years of their
development but it is more of the constructed protection by the human
community. This idea of community and protection is further developed and
studied through the formal education in Guru-kula. So basically this act of
entering into the world outside the protective environment and learn based upon
real world situations and knowledge is what pronounced as the second birth for
the human beings. So that why this word dvija is used metaphorically in case of
human beings as well.
In the schools they are supposed to learn all those ways in which world can be
interpreted and understood to develop human society. In Indian epistemology of
the knowledge there are two specific words when they mean knowledge (Biswas
2006). Jñāna and pramā is something very peculiar to what we understand of
knowledge as of today. The term pramā is derived from the root ‘mā’ which
means to create or to estimate, and ‘pra’ denotes to start, combined means true
knowledge. But in its essence it talks about the process to start estimating the
nature of objects or create knowledge based upon pramāna which is the chief
instrument of knowing the source of valid knowledge. Jñāna is all kinds of
knowledge which can be true or false. But when reality reveals true knowledge it
is called pramā and if knowledge is false then it is called apramā. So due to the
unavailability of the tools for conforming the believes, the jñeytā (possibility of
knowing) is questioned. But not directly declared as non-sense or idiotic belief
but it is an epistemic humility and acknowledging the limits of what human
beings can possibly know.
So in Indian context of understanding education system, it becomes fundamental
to understand the procedural or metaphysical understanding of the specific
actions that they engaged into the medieval India, where they started commenting
and challenging the Vedic texts. They coined their own terms to look at the
historical social developments to make some concrete meaning out of the actions

Abhijeet Kulkarni| Roll no. 163603001|TTIP|Date:10 Nov 2016|Assignment-6

 3

that they engaged into. As we see today the words dvija is never used into the
vedic texts but are referred to those who undergo upa-nayana saṃskār in
Dharmasastras text of mid to late 1st-millenium CE texts (Olivelle 2012).
Some key words like Jñāna, pramā, dvija allows us to theorize whole structural
meaning around the institution of education and what role that one can really play
in the process of learning or understanding the processes of constructing better
society. In the journey of learning new things and creating new knowledge,
structuring the education system in the modern world, it is fundamentally
important to encourage the process, to question those very ideas of true
knowledge and check for the pramāṇa (empirical evidence) to certify some
beliefs to be true. At the same time, it is necessary to realize limitations to
understand the world in the true sense on the larger time scale. The real education
is about developing the capacity to locate our particular existence in the collective
society, which enables one to sustain in this world more effectively.

References
Mookerji, Radha Kumud. Ancient Indian Education: Brahmanical and Buddhist.
Vol. 11. Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1989, 270-271.
Mittal, Sushil, and Gene Thursby, eds. The Hindu World. Routledge, 2004, 332-
356.
Robinson, Ken. All our futures: Creativity, culture and education. Sudbury:
DfEE, 2001.
Biswas, Mukta. Samkhya: Yoga Epistemology. DK Printworld Pvt. Ltd., 2006,
58.
Olivelle, Patrick. "Material culture and philology: semantics of mining in ancient
India." Journal of American Oriental Society 132, no. 1 (2012): 23-30.
Words: 1107

Abhijeet Kulkarni| Roll no. 163603001|TTIP|Date:10 Nov 2016|Assignment-6