History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c23.75

v2.c23.75

The rite called *caturthīkarma* is described in the Śāṅkhāyana gṛ. (I. 18-19, S. B. E. vol. 29, pp. 44-46) as follows "Three nights after marriage having elapsed, on the fourth the husband makes into fire eight offerings of cooked food to Agni, Vāyu, Sūrya (the mantra being the same for all three except the name of the deity), Aryaman, Varuṇa, Pūṣan (mantras being the same for these three), Prajāpati (the mantra is Ṛg. X. 121. 10), to (Agni) Sviṣṭakṛt. Then he pounds the root of Adhyaṇḍā plant and sprinkles it into the wife's nostril with two verses (Ṛg. X. 85. 21-22) with svāhā at the end of each. He should then touch her, when about to cohabit, with the words 'the mouth of the Gandharva Viśvāvasu art thou'. Then he should murmur 'into the breath I put the sperm, Oh! so and so (the name of the wife) or he repeats the verse 'as the earth has fire inside &c. (quoted above from Bṛ. Up. VI. 4. 22) or several other verses in this strain 'may a male embryo enter thy womb as an arrow into the quiver; may a man be born here, a son, after ten months'.⁴⁷¹ The Pār. gṛ. (I. 11, S. B. E. vol. 29, pp. 288-290) also has a similar procedure. Āp. gṛ. (8. 10-11, S. B. E. vol. 30, pp. 267-268), Gobhila II. 5 (S. B. E. vol. 30, pp. 51-52) give briefly a similar procedure, but refer to mantras given in the Mantrapāṭha (e. g. Āp. M. P. I. 10. 1. to I. 11. 11). To modern minds it appears strange that intercourse should have been surrounded by so much of mysticism and religion in the ancient sūtras. But in ancient times every act was sought to be invested with a religious halo; so much so that according to Hira. gṛ. I. 7. 25.3. (S. B. E. vol. 30, p. 200) Ātreya held that mantras were to be repeated at each cohabitation throughout life, while Bādarāyaṇa prescribed that this was necessary only at the first cohabitation and after each monthly course.⁴⁷² The Hir. gṛ. (I. 7, 23. 11 to 7, 25, S. B. E. vol. 30 pp. 197-200) gives a very elaborate rite, but on the same lines as the above gṛhyasūtras. One of the mantras is interesting on account of its reference to the cakravāka birds (I. 7. 24. 6), 'The concord that belongs to the cakravāka birds, that is brought out of the rivers of which the divine Gandharva is possessed, thereby we are concordant' (S. B. E. vol. 30, p. 198). The Vaik. (III. 9) calls this ceremony ṛtusaṁgamana and is similar to Āp. gṛ. and Hir. gṛ. It will be seen that the caturthīkarma is treated by the gṛhya writers as part of the marriage rites and the rite was performed irrespective of the question whether it was the first appearance of menses or whether the wife had just before the marriage come out of her monthly illness. This indicates that it was taken for granted that the wife had generally attained the age of puberty at the time of marriage. As the marriageable age of girls came down it appears that the rite of caturthīkarma was discontinued and the rite was performed long after the ritual of marriage and appropriately named *garbhādhāna*.