﻿290 ON THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES 



text of the Yajurc^da ; "I step on this for the sake 

 of food and other benefits, on this variously splendid 

 footstool." The bride's father presents to him a cu- 

 shion made of twenty leaves of cus'a grass, holding 

 it up with botli hands, and exclaiming, " the cu- 

 shion ! the cushion ! the cushion !" The bridegroom 

 replies, " I accept the cushion," and, taking it, 

 places it on the ground under his feet, while he re- 

 cites the following prayer : '' May those plants, over 

 which Soma presides, and which are variously dis- 

 persed on the earth, incessantly grant me happiness 

 "while this cushion is placed under my feet." An- 

 otlier is presented to him, which he accepts in the 

 same manner, saying, " May those numerous plants, 

 over -which Soma presides, and which are salutary a 

 hundred different ways, incessantly grant me happi- 

 ness while I sit on this cushion." Instead of these 

 prayers, which are peculiar to the Brahmanas, that 

 use the Sumaveda, the following text is commonly 

 recited : "I obscure my rivals, as the sun does other 

 luminaries; 1 tread on this as the type of him who 

 injures me." 



The bride's father next offers a vessel of water, 

 thrice exclaiming, " water for ablutions !" The 

 bridegroom declares In's acceptance of it, and looks 

 into the vessel, saying, " Generous water! I view 

 thee : return in the form of fertilizing rain, from him 

 from M horn thou dost proceed;" that is, from the 

 sun; for it is acknowledged, sa3's the commentator, 

 that rain proceeds from vapours raised by the heat of 

 the sun. The bridegroom rakes up water in the 

 palms of both bauds joined together, and throws it 

 on his left toot, saying, '• I wash my left foot, and 

 fix prosj)erity in this realm ;" he also throws water 

 on his other foot, saying, " I wash my right foot, 

 and introduce prosperity into this realm ;" and he 

 then throws water on both feet, sayings " I wash 

 first one, and then the other ; and lastly both feet, 

 that the realm mav thrive, and intrepidity be gained." 

 ^ o ' " The 



