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SANKHAYANA-GRIHYA-SUTRA.
10. At the wedding one cow, when the Argha ceremony has been performed; in the house one cow these are the two Madhuparka cows.
11. (The bridegroom) makes the girl sit down behind the fire, and while she takes hold of him he makes three oblations with the Mahâvyâhritis.
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10. As to the meaning of arhayitvâ I differ from the opinion of Nârâyana (see his note on p. 127 of the German edition), who takes gâm as the object of this verb (gâm arhayitvâ pûgayitvâ mâtâ rudrânâm ity rikam gapitvâ [comp. Pâraskara I, 3, 27]). The real meaning of arhayati is, to perform the Argha ceremony for a guest. Evidently in this Sûtra two different occasions are stated on which the Argha reception, eventually with the killing of a cow, should be performed; firstly, the bridegroom should be so received in the house of the bride's father; secondly, when the newlymarried people have arrived at their own house, an Argha reception should there be offered to them, perhaps, as the commentaries state, by the Âkârya.
11. According to Nârâyana it is the Âkârya who performs the rite prescribed in this Sûtra; Râmakandra, on the contrary, refers it to the bridegroom, which seems to me right. Comp. Gobhila II, 1.
In Sânkhâyana's description of the wedding ceremonies the point at which the bride passes over from the paternal power into that of her new husband is not expressly indicated. Pâraskara (I, 4, 15) clearly indicates it (pitrâ prattâm âdâya), and in the Parisishta of the Asvalâyana-Grihya this act of handing over the girl is treated of in detail (I, 22). On this depends the description in the Prayogaratna, fol. 69; comp. also Colebrooke's Miscell. Essays, I, 210. The Paddhati of Râmakandra does not fail to mention the kanyâpradâna, but I do not think that the succession of the different rites is stated there correctly. According to the Paddhati the bridegroom goes to the house of the girl's father, and there, after the madhu parka has been offered, the bride is given over to him; he then (labdhavadhûkah) goes (chap. 12, 1), accompanied by young women, to the kautukâgâra, where the ceremonies described in chap. 12, 3 seq. take place. Pâraskara, on the contrary, describes the handing over of the garments, the anointing, &c., as preceding the giving over of the girl, and indeed it is scarcely possible to see in the acts of dressing, adorning the girl, &c., in which both the bridegroom and her relations
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| SR No. | 007685 |
| Book Title | Grihya Sutras |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Hermann Oldenberg |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1886 |
| Total Pages | 2642 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 49 MB |