Prapāṭhaka II, Kāṇḍikā 1

1.^[1] Under a propitious Nakṣatra let him take a wife—

2.^[2] Who should possess the auspicious characteristics in due way.

3. If he can find no such (woman, he should take) earth-clods—

4.^[3] From an altar, a furrow, a pool, a cow-stable, a place where four roads meet, a gambling-place, a place where corpses are burnt, and from sterile soil;

5. A ninth (earth-clod) mixed of all.

6. (These he should make) equal (and should) make marks at them.

7.^[4] Taking them in his hand he should offer them to the girl, and (reciting the formula): 'Right alone is the first; right nobody oversteps; on right this earth is founded. May N.N. become this universe!'—he should pronounce her name and should say: 'Take one of these.'

8. If she takes one of the first four (clods), he should marry her,

9.^[5] And according to some (teachers) also, if (she takes) the mixed one.

10.^[6] After she has been washed with Klītaka, barley and beans, a friend should besprinkle her three times at her head, so that her whole body becomes wet, with Surā of first quality, with (the formula), 'Kāma! I know thy name. Intoxication thou art by name,' &c. (Mantra-Brāhmaṇa I, 1, 2). (In the passage of the formula), 'Bring hither N.N.,' he should pronounce the husband's name. (The Mantras should have) the word Svāhā at their end. With the two following verses he should wash her private parts.

11. That has to be done by (female) relatives (of the bride).

12. At the wedding wood has been put on the fire to the east of the house, on a surface besmeared (with cow-dung).

13.^[7] Then one of the people who assist at the wedding, fills a cup with 'firm' water, and having walked with the water-pot round the fire on its front side, silent, wrapped in his robe, he stations himself to the south (of the fire), facing the north

14. Another person with a goad (walks in the same way and stations himself in the same place).

15. They place roasted grain mixed with Śamī leaves, to the amount of four handfuls, in a winnowing basket behind the fire,

16. And an upper mill-stone.

17.^[8] Now (the girl) whose hand he is going to seize, has been washed, (her whole body) including her head.

18. The husband should put on her a (new) garment which has not yet been washed, with the verse, 'They who spun' (Mantra-Brāhmaṇa I, 1, 5), and with (the verse), 'Put on her, dress her' (l.l. 6).

19. Leading forward (from the house to the sacred fire, the bride) who is wrapped in her robe and wears the sacrificial cord over her left shoulder, he should murmur (the verse), 'Soma gave her to the Gandharva' (MB. I, 1, 7).

20.^[9] While she, to the west of the fire, pushes forward with her foot a rush-mat or something else of that kind, veiled (with clothes), he should make her say: 'May the way which my husband goes, be open to me.'

21. If she does not murmur (these words out of shame, &c.), he should murmur (them, saying), 'To her' (instead of 'To me').

22. She should make the end of the rush-mat (Sūtra 20) reach the end of the Barhis.

23. On the east end of the rush-mat she sits down to the right of the bridegroom.

24.^[10] While she touches his right shoulder with her right hand, he sacrifices six oblations of Ājya with (the verse), 'May Agni go as the first,' and the following (verses) (MB. I, 1, 9-14)—

25. And (three oblations) with the Mahāvyāhṛtis, one by one;

26. A fourth with (the four Mahāvyāhṛtis) together.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

1, 1-4. Description of the wedding. Comp. Indische Studien, V, 288, 305 seq.; 312 seq.; 368 seq.

[2]:

In translating kuśalena I have been guided by the comparison of I, 5, 26 (comp. Böhtlingk-Roth, s.v. kuśala). The commentary understands the Sūtra in a different way. He should take a woman who possesses auspicious characteristics commended by one versed (kuśala) in the characteristics of women. If he can find no such person who is able to judge, he should, &c. (Sūtra 3).

[3]:

Comp. Āśvalāyana-Gṛhya I, 5, 5; Gṛhya-saṃgraha II, 21-23.

[4]:

Āśvalāyana-Gṛhya, l.l. § 4.

[5]:

See Sūtra 5.

[6]:

'With Klītaka,' &c., means, with water into which Klītaka, &c., has been thrown; comp. Gṛhya-saṃgraha II, 15. 'Surā of first quality' is Surā prepared from molasses; see Gṛhya-saṃgraha II, 16. Comp., however, also Gṛhya-saṃgraha II, 41.

[7]:

Khādira-Gṛhya I, 3, 5; Gṛhya-saṃgraha II, 25. 26. 'Firm water' seems to be water which does not dry up. The Gṛhya-saṃgraha says: 'Water that has its smell, its colour, and its taste, which is in great rivers, in wells and other receptacles, and in ponds: such water is called "firm;" this is the fixed meaning.' Comp. Bloomfield's note, Z.D.M.G. XXXV, 574.

[8]:

17-19. Khādira-Gṛhya I, 3, 6. Yajñopavītinīm in Sūtra 19 means, according to the commentary, that she wears her outer garment arranged like the sacrificial cord, over her left shoulder; for women are not allowed to wear the sacrificial cord itself.

[9]:

Gṛhya-saṃgraha II, 27 seq.

[10]:

24-26. Khādira-Gṛhya I, 3, 11-13.