﻿C9t) ON THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES 



wealtll and mr.lc offspring-. ]\fay she, a most auspi- 

 cious cause of jjiosperity, never desert njc, &c. "* 



It should seem that, according to these rituals, 

 the bridegroom gives a waistcloth and mantle t ^ the 

 bride before he is affianced to her ; and the cereiiiony 

 of tying the skirts of tlieir mantles precedes that of 

 her. father's solenmlv bestowing: her on tie bride- 

 groom. But the ritual of tlie Samavedi priests make 

 the gift of the damsel precede the tying of the knot; 

 and, inconsistently enough, directs the mantles to 

 be tied before the bridegroofii has clothed the bride. 

 After the donation has been accepted as above- 

 mentioned, the brides father should tie a knot in 

 the bridegroom's mantle over the presents given 

 AV'ith the bride : while the affianced pair are loc^king 

 at each other. The cow is then released in the manner 

 before described ; a libation of water is made ; and 

 the bride's father meditates the gaijatri, and ties a 

 knot with the skirts of the bride's and bridegroom's 

 mantles, after saj'ing, " ye must be inseparably 

 united in matters of duty, wealth, and love, * The 

 bridegToom afterwards clothes the bride with the 

 following ceremonies : 



He goes to the principal apartment of the liouse, 

 prepares a sacrificial fire in the usual mode, and 

 hallows the implements of sacrifice. A friend of 

 tiie bridegroom w'alks round the fire, bearing a jar . 

 of water, and stops on the south side of it. An- 

 other does the same, and places himself on the right 

 hand of the first. The bridegroom then casts four 

 double handfuls of rice, mixed with leaves of S'ami'\, 

 into a flat basket : near it he places a stone and 

 mullar, atter formally touching them : and then, 



entering 



* I omit the remainder of the text, which it would be indecorous 

 to translate into a modern language. The literal sense of it is here 

 subjoined in a Larin version : " Ilia redamans accipito fascinum meum, 

 quod ego peramans intromlttam in earn, raultas qua illicebras sis* 

 tunt. 



f Adenanthera aculeata. 



