kata dine miÅ›ra putrera hÄte khaá¸i dila
alpa dine dvÄdaÅ›a-phalÄ aká¹£ara Å›ikhila
kata dine - after some days; miÅ›ra - JagannÄtha MiÅ›ra; putrera - of his son; hÄte - in the hand; khaá¸i - chalk; dila - gave; alpa - within a very few; dine - days; dvÄdaÅ›a-phalÄ - twelve combinations of letters; aká¹£ara - letters; Å›ikhila - learned.
After some days JagannÄtha MiÅ›ra inaugurated the primary education of his son by performing the hÄte khaá¸i ceremony. Within a very few days the Lord learned all the letters and combinations of letters.
The twelve phalÄ, or combinations of letters, are called repha; mÅ«rdhanya (cerebral), ṇa; dÄntavya (dental), na; ma; ya; ra; la; va; á¹›; á¹; ḷ; and ḷ. HÄte khaá¸i is the primary educational beginning. At the age of four or five years, on an auspicious day called vidyÄrambha marking the beginning of primary education, there is a ceremony worshiping Lord Viṣṇu, and after that the teacher gives the child a long chalk pencil. Then, guiding the hand of the student, he instructs him how to write the letters of the alphabet (a, Ä, i, etc.) by writing big letters on the floor. When the child is a little advanced in writing, he is given a slate for his primary education, which ends when he learns the two-letter combinations, which are called phalÄ, as mentioned above.
