History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c26.470

v2.c26.470

Some of the smṛtis and digests are very much exercised over the question of the bride having menstruation while the marriage ceremonies are in progress and *homa* is about to be performed. Atri¹²⁵² (Jīvānanda part 1, p. 11, chap. V) prescribes that having made the girl bathe with the Havismatī (with a verse in which the word havis occurs, probably Ṛg. X. 88. 1 or VIII. 72. 1) and to put on other garments and having offered an *āhuti* of clarified butter with the verse 'Yuñjate manaḥ' (Ṛg. V. 81. 1) the ceremonies should be proceeded with. The Smṛtyarthasāra (p. 17) first quotes two verses (the same as Atri's) and proposes an alternative method viz. that the bride and the bride-groom should stay separate from each other for three days and on the fourth day after ceremonially bathing themselves should perform the homa in the same fire.