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Some of the most poetic hymns in Atharvaveda
come under this category. Hymn
(14.1)
having 64
verses and Hymn
(14.2)
having 75
verses, hymns (7.36),
(7.35),
(2.36)
and (6.60).
The hymns
(14.1)
and
(14.2)
have most of the verses of the famous marriage hymn of Rigveda
Samhita (10.85).
The marriage hymns deal
with the symbolic marriage between Knowledge and Delight typified
by the bride Sūrya and the bridegroom Soma. We will give only two
verses from these two hymns.
"I am song,
thou art verse
I am heaven, thou art
Earth" (14.2.71)
This verse quoted in Bŗhadāraņyaka Upanishad
(6.4.20)
While going from the
bride's father’s house to his own house, the bridegroom utters the
following to his spouse:
"Like a cucumber from
its stalk
I free thee from here, but not there."
The “cucumber” phrase
occurs in the famous tryambaka verse in RV
(7.52)
with the phrase “Here and there” having a different meaning. In
AV, ''here'' signifies bride’s father’s house and “there”, his own
house. In the RV, "here" means the “pleasures of this world”;
"there" means the “sphere of immortality and bliss”.
Here is the verse
(7.36),
from the groom to the bride.
"Our mutual
glances, be they sweet;
Our faces-may they
show our concord;
Take me within thy heart and let
One spirit dwell
in both of us (7.36)."
I give below the
(crude)
translation by Whitney of the same verse.
"The eyes of us
two [be] of honey-aspect,
Our faces be
ointment;
Put thou me within
thy heart
May our mind be
verily together."
The next quote is from
AV (7.37).
The practice of enveloping the couple with a robe mentioned here
is still followed in some parts of India.
I envelop, thee
with this robe
I have, which from
Manu has come
So that thou mayst
be mine alone
And never admire another one.
(7.37)
ATHARVA VEDA (14.1)
(FROM THE FATHER'S TO
THE HUSBAND'S HOME)
Rishi: Sūrya, Daughter of
Sun
Our homage to Aryamāan!
the kindly friend who finds husbands.
Like a cucumber from its stalk
I free thee from here, but not from
there. ------------------- (17)
Enjoy you two together fortune's richest gifts,
observing the Law in rightful bearing.
Brahmaņaspati, make the husband dear to her,
and graceful be the words the wooer speaks. -------------------
(31)
Hoping for love, children, fortune, wealth,
and by being always behind
thy husband in his life's vacation,
gird thou up for
immortality. -------------------
(42)
By
me may she be cherished;
Bŗhaspati has made thee mine;
live, a mother of children, with me,
thy husband, for a hundred years. ------------------- (52)
ATHARVA VEDA (14.2)
(GOOD WISHES FOR MAN
AND WIFE)
Rishi: Sūrya, Daughter of
Sun
May you two, waking up in your pleasant chamber,
both filled with laughter and cheer, and enjoying
mightily, having good sons, a good home,
and good cattle, pass the shining
mornings. ------------------- (43)
This woman says, as she throws the husks of corn:
Long-lived be my husband, may he live a hundred years. -------------------
(63)
Join this couple here, Indra, like
a pair of chakravāka birds.
May these two in a good home enjoy
with children the full length of life. ------------------- (64)
I
am this, thou art-she;
I
am song, thou art verse;
I
am Heaven, thou art Earth;
We
two together shall live here,
becoming parents of children. ------------------- (71)
(Flaws
in the ceremony)
If
the bride's sisters and young maidens
have danced together in your house,
and committed sin with shouts,
May Agni and Sāvitri free thee from that sin. -------------------
(61)
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