day, graduation from school, wedding and honeymoon, pregnancy, raising a family, as well as those related to final rites associated with cremation. These rites of passage are not uniform, and vary within the diverse traditions of Hinduism. Some may involve formal ceremonies, yajna (fire) ceremonies with the chanting of Vedic hymns. Others are simple, private affairs involving a couple, with or without friends, other families or a religious person such as a priest or a pandit. Samskaras are not considered as an end in themselves, but are means of social recognition as well as the passage of a person from one significant stage of life to another. Various elements of samskaras and rituals of passage are mentioned in Vedas of Hinduism, one of the oldest known scriptures in the world. The most extensive, but divergent discussions of these rites of passage are found in the numerous Dharmasutras and Grhyasutras from the 1st millennium BCE. Many of these rites of passage include formal ceremonies, with ritual readings of hymns, chants and ethical promises, aiming to orient the individual(s) to that which is considered part of dharma (right, good, just, moral, true, spiritual, responsible, duties to family members or society in general), and essential actions such as those associated with last rites and cremation, charitable works, or out of sraddha or items of faith. The purpose Gautama Dharmasutra enumerates a large list of "forty outer karma samskaras" and "eight inner karma samskara (good qualities)", all of whom have the purpose of empowering a human being to discover, recognize and reach union with the Brahma-Atman (his or her Soul, Self, Highest Being). The ultimate purpose is to inculcate virtues, and samskaras are viewed in the Hindu tradition as means – not as ends – towards ripening and perfecting the human journey of life. The eight good qualities listed by Gautama Dharmasutra are emphasized as more important than the forty samskara rituals, in verses 8.21-8.25, as follows, The 40 Samskaras The Gautama Dharmasutra list the following forty rituals as outer samskaras: Garbhadhana (conception), Pumsavana (rite celebrating the fetus), Simantonnayana (parting of pregnant woman's hair in 8th month), Jatakarman (rite celebrating the birth), Namakarana (naming the child), Annaprashana (baby's first feeding of solid food), Choulam (baby's first haircut, tonsure), and Upanayana (entry into school rite); the four vows associated with Vedic study; graduation ritual at the conclusion of school; marriage sva-dharma rite; five sacrifices to