The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c31.s5.10

v2.c31.s5.10

Then the bride takes seven steps in the north-east direction, the quarter of victory, the bridegroom takes her by the shoulders, and touches heart and navel as at the ceremony of the initiation of a student, and water is sprinkled on her. Then the bridegroom, in the version of Gobhila, takes the hand of the bride as she sits facing east and he stands facing west: this rite is placed differently by other authorities: the manner of seizing the hand depends on what is wished: if he desires sons only the thumb, if daughters the fingers, if both the whole hand. Then gifts are made: the Ācārya receives a cow from a Brahman, a village from a royal personage, a horse from a Vaiçya. If he has a daughter, he receives a hundred cows and a car, unless, as is much more probable, the provision really refers to the old practice of purchasing a wife.¹ The bridal garment is also given to the knower of the Sūryā hymn, which is used for the rites, and is apparently hung up on a post.² The bride is now taken to her new home by a car, horse, or elephant, and formulae are provided for all eventualities, when she cries,³ when there is a breakdown *en route*, and so on. If they cross a stream, she is not to look at the crew. Fire is carried with them so that, if the car breaks, it can be mended, and then be sprinkled with butter left over from the offering made. This fire serves also to be the fire used by the householder at the sacrifices which his marriage imposes upon him. Some authorities prescribe the spending of the first night of marriage in the house of an old Brahman woman, whose husband and children are still alive, in which case the bride sits in silence on a red skin, hair upwards, until the stars appear: when this happens her husband offers six butter libations, pours the remains over her head, and shows her the stars Arundhatī and the pole star⁴ as symbols of constancy. When they arrive at the home of the husband, he unyokes first the right, then the left animal, and Brahman women, with living husbands and children, help her down. She must enter the house without touching the threshold, and sit down on a skin, hair up, but she may be lifted over it and so put down by a strong man. On her lap a male child is placed, fruits are put in her hands, and Brahmans wish her prosperity. Then, if not before, the ceremony of looking at Arundhatī and the pole star may take place.