Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 263

THE GIFT OF THE VIRGIN
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which is called kania-dana, or ihe gift of
This is what takes place. The bridegroom
being seated facing the east, his father-in-law performs
the sam-kalpa, places himself in front of him, and looks at
him fixedly for some time without speaking. He is sup-
posed to imagine that he sees in his son-in-law the great
Vishnu and with this in his mind, he offers him a sacrifice
of arghya, padya, achamania, akshatas, sandalwood, and
A new copper vessel is then brought. In this the
flowers.
ceremony
the
of all.
virgin.
;
young man places
his feet, which his father-in-law washes
with water, then with milk, and then again for the
third time with water, while reciting suitable mantrams.
He performs the great sam-kalpa, which consists in
adding to the ordinary sam-kalpa (vide Part I, Chapter XIII)
the names and attributes of the Bharata Varsha, the Sali-
vahana, the seven islands, the seven seas, the seven pur as or
cities, the seven Penitents, the seven mountains, the sacred
places (punyasthalas), and the holy cities {puny a puras).
He next thinks of his father, his grandfather, and great-
Pronouncing their names aloud, he prays
grandfather.
that these and the twenty-one other ancestors who have
Then,
preceded them, may attain moksha (or paradise).
holding betel in one hand and taking his daughter's hand
in the other, he says a prayer to Vishnu, begging him to
look with a gracious eye on this gift that he is making of
his virgin daughter.
He then places her hand in that of
her future husband, pours a little water over it, and gives
him some betel, the usual token of a gift.
first
The
gift of the virgin is
followed by three other
gifts,
namely, the go-dana, bhu-dana, and salagrama-dana, which
mean the gift of cows, the gift of land, and the gift of
salagramas, or small stones, to which they attach a super-
stitious value, and which will be spoken of later on.
Then follows the ceremony called mangalewhta l The
bride and bridegroom are seated facing each other, and
a sheet of silk is suspended in front of them. This is held
by twelve Brahmins, and hides them from the other guests,
who successively invoke in a loud voice Vishnu and his
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This means the eight marriage blessings.' The ceremony concludes
with the throwing of coloured rice over the couple by way of blessing
them. Ed.
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