290 On the Marriage Rites and Usages [Jonez, 
ground from a vessel in the shape of a boat, arghd ; and the third 
is the sipping, or achimdn. Surely, there is nothing very ‘absurd 
or trivial’’ in these allusions to the three great purposes to which water 
is applied in India, and throughout the world, viz. ablution, irrigation, 
and nourishment. 
After the adorations of water, the bride enters the pavilion, and being 
carried to her father, is by him received with extended arms. He then 
presents her to the bridegroom, places her hand in his: the latter 
joining his two palms together to receive hers; as is customary 
throughout Hindiistan with persons when a gift is conferred on them. 
The Brahmans now proceed to chaunt the sankalp, or votive prayer, 
expressive of the solemn vow by which the bride has been dedicated 
and given away by her father, and thus after one or two other man- 
tras, the kanya-dan, which precisely answers to our giving away of 
the bride, is accomplished. 
The Bharatpur Pandits assert, that the kanya-ddn irrevocably fixes 
the marriage, even though the Hom or burnt-offering should not take 
place. This appears to be contrary to the text in Menu, which declares 
that a marriage is irrevocable after the seven steps have been taken at 
the Hom. Mr. Co.zsrook: also states that the seventh step renders 
it irrevocable. 
The kanya-dan is succeeded by the parkrama or pridakshana, in 
other words, the circuits round the altar. The clothes of the bride- 
groom are tied to those of the bride; their hands bound together with 
kusa grass, or a yellow thread: and in this state they have to per- 
form seven circuits round the altar. The Shastras indeed prescribe 
four circuits as the proper number, but the Jats always make seven. 
The number of circuits having been finished, mantras are recited and 
ablutions offered in honour of Aghana, (the god of fire,) the purest 
symbol of the all-pervading principle of life and power, which, as in 
the Platonic scheme, is supposed to diffuse itself throughout the mass 
of created things, and to vivify and animate the countless particles of 
matter. 
““ Celum et terras camposque liquentes 
“* Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus 
“* Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.”’ 
Well would it have been for Hinduism, and the myriads who pro- 
fess and have professed it, had all its symbols and objects of adoration 
been equally pure and innoxious as Aghana. 
The worship of Aghana being completed, andthe marriage render- 
ed indissoluble and irrevocable by the seven steps, the attendant priests 
