Praśna 1, Section 3

1.^[1] Under the Maghās (Nakṣatra) cows are provided;

2. Under the Phalgunī (Nakṣatra) marriage is celebrated.

3.^[2] A daughter whom he wishes to be dear (to her husband), a father should give in marriage under the Niṣṭyā (Nakṣatra); thus she becomes dear (to her husband); she does not return (to her father's) house: this is an observance based on a Brāhmaṇa.

4.^[3] The word Invakās means Mṛgaśiras; the word Niṣṭyā means Svāti.

5.^[4] At the wedding one cow;

6. In the house one cow:

7. With the (first cow) he should prepare an Argha reception for the bridegroom as for a guest,

8. With the other (the bridegroom [?] should do so) for a person whom he reveres.

9. These are the occasions for killing a cow: (the arrival of) a guest, (the Aṣṭakā sacrifice offered to) the Fathers, and marriage.

10.^[5] Let (the wooer) avoid in his wooing a girl that sleeps, or cries, or has left home.

11.^[6] And let him avoid one who has been given (to another), and who is guarded (by her relations), and one who looks wicked (?), or who is a most excellent one (?), or (who is like the fabulous deer) śarabha (?), a hunch-back, a girl of monstrous appearance, a bald-headed girl, a girl whose skin is like a frog's (?), a girl who has gone over to another family (?), a girl given to sensual pleasures (?), or a herdess, or one who has too many friends, or who has a fine younger sister, or one whose age is too near to that of the bridegroom (?).

12.^[7] Girls who have the name of a Nakṣatra, or of a river, or of a tree, are objectionable.

13. And all girls in whose names the last letter but one is r or l, one should avoid in wooing.

14. If possible, he should place (the following) objects hidden before the girl, and should say to her, 'Touch (one of these things).'

15. (The objects are), different kinds of seeds mixed together, loose earth from (the kind of sacrificial altar called) vedi, an earth-clod from a field, cow-dung, and an earth-clod from a cemetery.

16.^[8] If she touches one of the former (objects, this portends) prosperity as characterized (by the nature of what she has touched).

17. The last is regarded as objectionable.

18. Let him marry a girl of good family and character, with auspicious characteristics, and of good health.

19. Good family, a good character, auspicious characteristics, learning, and good health: these are the accomplishments of a bridegroom.

20. A wife who is pleasing to his mind and his eyes, will bring happiness to him; let him pay no attention to the other things: such is the opinion of some.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

3, 1, 2. Comp. Ṛg-veda X, 85, 13; Atharva-veda XIV, i, 13; Kauśika-sūtra 75; Rāmāyaṇa I, 71, 24; 72, 13; Weber, Die vedischen Nachrichten von den Naxatra, II, 364 seq. These parallel passages most decidedly show that in Sūtra 2 we ought to read vyuhyate, not vyūhyate.

[2]:

Comp. Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa I, 5, 2, 3.

[3]:

Comp. Sūtra 3, and above, Section 2, Sūtra 16.

[4]:

5-8. Comp. Śāṅkhāyana-Gṛhya I, 12, 10. It is clear that with the first cow the bride's father has to receive the bridegroom. The 'house' mentioned in Sūtra 6 seems to be the house of the newly-married couple. In the expression 'whom he reveres,' 'he,' according to the commentaries, is the bridegroom.

[5]:

This Sūtra forms a half-śloka.

[6]:

Most expressions in this Sūtra are quite doubtful, and their translation rests on the explanations of the commentators (see pp. 44, 45 of Dr. Winternitz's edition), which are evidently for the most part only guesses.

[7]:

12, 13. These Sūtras would require only slight alterations to make a śloka.

[8]:

The seeds mean offspring, and so on.