1884.] 
of Religion in the Himalaya. 
95 
(4) Tlie bride sits to the right, and the bridegroom sits to the left 
close together, while a lioma is made. 
(5) Next follows the sa 7 risrava-jpTdsana^ furna^dtra, gifts to Brah¬ 
mans, and the verses suited to the ceremony. 
Vagddna .—Commencing with the first group we have the vdgddna- 
vidhi or rules for the preliminaries to a marriage. Some days before the 
wedding takes place the father of the girl performs the Ganesa-pzij'a and 
the dedication declaring the object to be the correct and successful issue 
of the vdgddna, with detail of his own caste, name, race, and that of the 
boy to whom he has given his girl. The girl then performs the Indrani- 
pujd (one of the divine mothers) before a likeness of that deity drawn on 
gold or other metal. Next day the sarvvdramhJia or the beginning to 
collect the materials necessary for the wedding takes place. The 
father of the bride takes a mixture of turmeric and Idlii (parched grain) 
with water and anoints the body of the girl and performs the Ganesa- 
fujd. The same is done by the father of the boy to the boy, and in ad¬ 
dition he takes three small bags {potaU) of cloth containing coin, betel, 
turmeric, roli (powder on the seeds of Mallotus phillipinensis) and rice,* 
one of which is buried within the hearth where the food is cooked ; a 
second is suspended from a handle of the hardhi or iron-pan in which the 
food is cooked, and the third is attached to the handle of the spoon. 
The object of these proceedings is to keep off ghosts and demons from 
the feast. Thin cakes are prepared of wheaten flour {sunwdla) and 
thicker cakes (pm) of the same, which, with sesamum and balls of a 
mixture of rice-flour, ghl, and molasses (laddu and chhol) are made by 
the women. 
First visit .—Next comes the purvdnga which takes place on the day 
before or on the morning of the wedding. The parents of both children, 
each in their own house, commence with the Ganesa-p^ji, followed by 
the Mdtri-pujd, Nd7idi-srdddha, Punydha-vdchana, Kalasa-sthdpana and 
Navagraha-pujd as already described. The parents of the girl seldom 
perform more than the first two, and remain fasting until the Fanyd-ddna 
has taken place. The father of the girl then through his daughter 
adores Gauri, Maheswari, and Indrani, and ties Si potaU on her left hand. 
The father of the boy binds a similar bag on the right wrist of the boy, 
and also on the left hand of the boy’s mother. Four days afterwards the 
bags are removed. On the morning of the wedding day the family as¬ 
trologer sends a water-clock, to mark the exact moment, with other 
presents to the father of the girl, and declares his intention of being 
present with the marriage procession at a certain hour. The boy is then 
* These are the contents of the potali commonly used, though a much more 
elaborate inventory is given in the ritual. 
