Republics in Ancient India, c. 1500 B.C.–500 B.C. c7.579

c7.579

There is yet another context in which the social aspect of the *vidatha* is revealed. In a long Ṛg Vedic hymn the *vidatha* is connected with the welcoming of a bride, and an Atharvan hymn also mentions the *vidatha* in the same context.² Here the *vidatha* can hardly mean more than a mere gathering of kith and kin who have come to attend the wedding ceremony which was, as it is today, a socio-religious rite.