Rite no. 10 / 16
विद्यारम्भ
The beginning of learning
The day a child first forms a letter. Learning is begun as something reverent and joyful, honouring knowledge itself as a gift worth seeking.
In childhood, before formal initiation; a later addition to the classical rite series.
Later Smṛti/Gṛhya tradition (post-classical). See the classical series in the Gṛhya-Sūtras, SBE Vols. 29–30 (1886), public domain.