Twice-born

The three upper castes of the Hindu system (that is, all but the artisan or labouring class) have a sacrament of initiation signifying a second or spiritual birth. The individual leaves behind the "womb" of guide-lines fostering him in immaturity and is born again as a competent adult functioning rationally and leaving childhood behind. He may then, like the deities, wear the sacred thread. The practice may perhaps be related to the concept of the twice-born deities of fertility and light, dying at the summer solstice and reborn at the winter solstice - and further, to the idea of rebirth in Christ; see also St Paul, I Corinthians 13 "when I became a man, I put away childish things".