Upakarma is translated as “Beginning”. It essentially means that the person starts the process of learning the Veda. Yajur Upakarma means that the process of starting to learn the Yajur Veda. Yajur Vedis observe Upakarma during the month of Aadi or shravan on the full moon day. This particular day is auspicious as it is the day in which Lord Narayana assumed the avatar of Lord Hayagriva, who is the god of knowledge and restored the Vedas to Lord Brahma. Rig Vedis observe the upakarma on the day before if the full moon day falls on two days.
As the obvious question of why observe the Upakarma if it’s about starting the learning of Vedas. During the ancient days, the Vedas were performed only between the months of Aadi Thai. Therefore, one is supposed to perform an “utsarjanam” in the month of Thai, i.e., a giving up of the learning of Vedas from Thai to Avani. Just like a Upakarma function there was a Utsarjana function in Thai.
The period between January to August was then devoted to learning other branches of our shastras. Thus the cycle of Upakarma and Utsarjana with regard to Vedic studies was established. However, this method took 12 or more years to learn just one veda. Slowly this became impractical and Vedic studies continued throughout the year.
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