Atharva Veda · 477 of 724
HYMN II
On the Bridal of Sūryā, marriage ceremonies in general, continued 1. For thee with bridal train they first escorted Sūryā to her home, Give to the husband in return, Agni, the wife with future sons. 2. Agni hath given the bride again with splendour and a lengthened. life. Long-lived be he who is her lord: a hundred autumns let him live. 3. She was the wife of Soma first: next the Gandharva was thy lord. Agni was the third husband: now one born of woman is thy fourth. 4. Soma to the Gandharva, and to Agni the Gandharva gave. Now, Agni hath bestowed on me riches and sons and this my bride. 5. Your favouring grace hath come, ye who are rich in spoil! Asvins, your longings are stored up within your hearts. Ye, Lords of Splendour have become our twofold guard: may we as dear friends reach the dwelling of the friend. 6. Thou, Dame, rejoicing, take with kindly spirit wealth worthy to be famed, with all thy heroes. Give, Lords of Light a fair ford, good to drink at: remove the spiteful stump that blocks the pathway. 7. May all the Rivers, all the Plants, may all the Forests, all the Fields, O Bride, protect thee from the fiend, guard his sons’ mother for her lord. 8. Our feet are on this pleasant path, easy to travel, bringing bliss, Whereon no hero suffers harm, which wins the wealth of other men. 9. Here these my words, ye men, the benediction through which the wedded pair have found high fortune. May the divine Apsarases, Gandharvas, all they who are these fruitful trees’ protectors, Regard this bride with their auspicious, favour, nor harm the nuptial pomp as it advances. 10. Consumptions, which, through various folk, attack the bride’s resplendent train, These let the holy Gods again bear to the place from which they sprang. 11. Let not the highway thieves who lie in ambush find the wedded pair. Let wicked men’s malignities go elsewhere by an easy path. 12. I look upon the house and bride’s procession with prayer and with the gentle eye of friendship. All that is covered there in perfect beauty may Savitar make pleasant to the husband. 13. She hath come home this dame come home to bless us: this her appointed world hath Dhātar shown her. So may Prajāpati, and both the Asvins, Aryaman, Bhaga gladden her with offspring. 14. This dame hath come, an animated corn-field: there sow, thou man, the seed of future harvest. She from her teeming side shall bear thee children, and feed them from the fountain of her bosom. 15. Take thou thy stand, a Queen art thou, like Vishnu here, Sarasvati! O Sinivali, let her bear children, and live in Bhaga’s grace. 16. So let your wave bear up the pins, and ye, O Waters, spare the thongs; And never may the holy pair, sinless and innocent, suffer harm. 17. Not evil-eyed no slayer of thy husband, be strong, mild, kind, and gentle to thy household. Mother of heroes, love thy husband’s father: be happy, and through thee may we too prosper. 18. No slayer of thy husband or his father, gentle and bright, bring blessing on the cattle. p. 141 Loving thy husband’s father, bring forth heroes. Tend well this household fire: be soft and pleasant. 19. Up and begone! What wish hath brought thee hither from thine own house? Thy mightier, I conjure thee. Vain is the hope, O Nirriti, that brought thee. Fly off, Malignity; stay here no longer. 20. As first of all this woman hath adored the sacred household fire. So do thou, Dame, pay homage to the Fathers and Sarasvati. 21. Take thou this wrapper as a screen, to be a covering for the bride O Sinivali, let her bear children, and live in Bhaga’s grace. 22. Let her who shall be blest with sons, the maid who finds a. husband, step Upon the rough grass that ye spread and on the skin ye lay beneath. 23. Over the ruddy-coloured skin strew thou the grass, the Balbuja. Let her, the mother of good sons, sit there and serve this Agni here. 24. Step on the skin and wait upon this Agni: he is the God who drives away all demons. Here bear thou children to this man thy husband: let this thy boy be happy in his birthnight. 25. Let many babes of varied form and nature spring in succession from this fruitful mother. Wait on this fire, thou bringer of good fortune. Here with thy husband serve the Gods with worship. 26. Bliss-bringer, furthering thy household’s welfare, dear gladdening thy husband and his father, enter this home, mild to thy hus- band’s mother. 27. Be pleasant to the husband’s sire, sweet to thy household and thy lord, To all this clan be gentle, and favour these men’s prosperity. 28. Signs of good fortune mark the bride. Come all of you and look at her. Wish her prosperity: take on you her evil lucks and go your way. 29. Ye youthful maidens, ill-disposed, and all ye ancient woman here, Give all your brilliance to the bride, then to your several homes depart! 30. Sūryā the child of Savitar mounted for high felicity Her litter with its cloth of gold, wearing all forms of loveliness. 31. Rise, mount the bridal bed with cheerful spirit. Here bring forth children to this man thy husband. Watchful and understanding like Indrāni wake thou before the earliest light of Morning. 32. The Gods at first lay down beside their consorts; body with body met in close embracement. O Dame, like Sūryā perfect in her grandeur, here rich in future children, meet thy husband. 33. Rise and go hence, Visvāvasu: with reverence we worship thee. Steal to her sister dwelling with her father: this is the share— mark this—of old assigned thee. 34. Apsarases rejoice and feast together between the sun and place of sacrificing. These are thy kith and kin: go thou and join them: I in due season worship thee Gandharva. 35. Homage we pay to the Gandharva’s favour, obeisance to his eye and fiery anger. Visvāvasu, with prayer we pay thee homage. Go hence to those Apsarases thy consorts. 36. May we be happy with abundant riches. We from this place have banished the Gandharva. The God is gone to the remotest region, and we have come where men prolong existence. 37. In your due season, Parents! come together. Mother and sire be ye of future children. Embrace this woman like a happy lover. Raise ye up offspring here: increase your riches. 38. Send her most rich in every charm, O Pūshan, her who shall be the sharer of my pleasures; Her who shall twine her eager arms about me, and welcome all my love and soft embraces. 39. Up, happy bridegroom! with a joyous spirit caress thy wife and throw thine arm around her. Here take your pleasure, procreate your offspring. May Savitar bestow long life upon you. 40. So may the Lord of Life vouchsafe you children, Aryaman bind you, day and night, together. Enter thy husband’s house with happy omens, bring blessing to our quadrupeds and bipeds. 41. Sent by the Gods associate with Manu, the vesture of the bride, the nuptial garment, He who bestows this on a thoughtful Brāhman, drives from the marriage-bed all evil demons. 42. The priestly meed wherewith ye twain present me, the vesture of the bride, the nuptial garment, This do ye both, Brihaspati and Indra, bestow with loving-kind- ness on the Brāhman. 43. On your soft couch awaking both together, revelling heartily with joy and laughter, Rich with brave sons, good cattle, goodly homestead, live long to look on many radiant mornings. 44. Clad in new garments, fragrant, well-apparelled, to meet reful- gent Dawn have I arisen. I, like a bird that quits the egg, am freed from sin and purified. 45. Splendid are Heaven and Earth, still near to bless us, mighty in their power; The seven streams have flowed: may they, Goddesses, free us from distress 46. To Sūryā and the Deities, to Mitra and to Varuna, Who know aright the thing that is, this adoration have I paid. 47. He without ligature, before making incision in the neck. Closed up the wound again, most wealthy Bounteous Lord who healeth the dissevered parts. 48. Let him flash gloom away from us, the blue, the yellow and the red. I fasten to this pillar here the burning pest Prishātaki. 49. All witcheries that hang about this garment, all royal Varuna’s entangling nooses. All failure of success and all misfortunes here I deposit fastened to the pillar. 50. My body that I hold most dear trembles in terror at this robe. Tree, make an apron at the top. Let no misfortune fall on us. 51. May all the hems and borders all the threads that form the web and woof. p. 144 The garment woven by the bride, be soft and pleasant to our touch. 52. These maids who from their father’s house have come with long- ing to their lord have let the preparation pass. All hail! 53. Her whom Brihaspati hath loosed the Visve Devas keep secure. With all the splendour that is stored in cows do we enrich this. girl. 54. Her whom Brihaspati hath loosed the Visve Devas keep secure. With all the vigour that is stored in cows do we enrich this girl. 55. Her whom Brihaspati, etc. With all good fortune, etc. 56. Her whom Brihaspati, etc. With all the glory, etc. 57. Her whom Brihaspati, etc. With all the milky store possessed by cows do we enrich this girl. 58. Her whom Brihaspati hath freed the Visve Devas keep secure. With all the store of sap that cows contain do we enrich this. girl. 59. If, wearing long loose hair, these men have danced together in thy house, committing sin with shout and cry, May Agni free thee from that guilt, may Savitar deliver thee, 60. If in thy house thy daughter here have wept, with wild dishevel- led locks, committing sin with her lament. May Agni, etc. 61. If the bride’s sisters, if young maids have danced together in thy house, committing sin with shout and cry. May Agni free thee from that guilt, may Savitar deliver thee. 62. If any evil have been wrought by mischief-makers that affects thy cattle progeny or house, May Agni free thee from the woe, may Savitar deliver thee. 63. This woman utters wish and prayer, as down she casts the husks of corn: Long live my lord and master! yea, a hundred autumns let him live! 64. Join thou this couple, Indra! like the Chakravaka and his. mate: May they attain to full old age with children in their happy home. 65. Whatever magic hath been wrought on cushion, chair, or canopy. Each spell to mar the wedding rites, all this we throw into the bath. 66. Whatever fault or error was in marriage or in bridal pomp. This woe we wipe away upon the cloak the interceder wears. 67. We, having laid the stain and fault upon the interceder’s cloak, Are pure and meet for sacrifice. May he prolong our lives for us. 68. Now let this artificial comb, wrought with a hundred teeth, remove Aught of impurity that dims the hair upon this woman’s head. 69. We take away consumption from each limb and member of the bride. Let not this reach Earth, nor the Gods in heaven, let it not reach the sky or air’s wide region. Let not this dust that sullies reach the Waters, nor Yama, Agni, nor the host of Fathers. 70. With all the milk that is in Earth I gird thee, with all the milk that Plants contain I dress thee. I gird thee round with children and with riches. Do thou, thus girt, receive the offered treasure. 71. I am this man, that dame art thou I am the psalm and thou the verse. I am the heaven and thou the earth. So will we dwell together here, parents of children yet to be. 72. Unmarried men desire to wed; bountiful givers wish for sons. Together may we dwell with strength unscathed for high pros- perity. 73. May they, the Fathers who, to view the bride, have joined this nuptial train, Grant to this lady and her lord children and peaceful happiness. 74. Her who first guided by a rein came hither, giving the bride, here offspring and possessions, Let them convey along the future’s pathway. Splendid, with noble children, she hath conquered. 75. Wake to long life, watchful and understanding, yea, to a life shall last a hundred autumns Enter the house to be the household’s mistress. A long long life let Savitar vouchsafe thee.
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