"40. First Soma accepts thee; then Gandharva accepts thee; Agni is thy third lord; the son of man is the fourth to accept thee.
"41. Soma bestowed this maiden to Gandharva, Gandharva gave her to Agni, Agni has given her to me with wealth and progeny.
"42. O bridegroom and bride! do ye remain here together; do not be separated. Enjoy food of various kinds, remain in your own home, and enjoy happiness in company of your children and grandchildren.
"43. (The bride and bridegroom say), May Prajapati bestow on us children; may Aryaman keep us united till old age. (Address to the bride), O bride! Enter with auspicious signs the home of thy husband. Do good to our male servants and our female servants, and to our cattle.
"44. Be thine eyes free from anger; minister to the happiness of thy husband; do good to our cattle. May thy mind be cheerful; and may thy beauty be bright. Be the mother of heroic sons, and be devoted to the gods. Do good to our male servants and our female servants, and to our cattle.
"45. O Indra! make this woman fortunate and the mother of worthy sons. Let ten sons be born of her, so that there may be eleven men in the family with the husband.
"46. (Address to the bride), May thou have influence over thy father-in-law, and over thy mother-in-law, and be as a queen over thy sister-in-law and brother-in-law.
"47. (The bridegroom and bride say), May all the gods unite our hearts; may Mâtarisvan and Dhâtri and the goddess of speech unite us together."[54]
Dubois goes quite fully into the ceremonies and functions of a Brahmin marriage of his time, from which is taken the following extract.[55]
There were four different ways of arranging the preliminaries of a marriage. In the first the father of the bride refused the sum of money to which he was entitled from the young man's parents and he bore all the expenses of the wedding. In the second way the parents of both parties agreed to share all the expenses. In the third way the youth's parents bore all the expenses of the wedding and also paid a sum of money to the father for his daughter. In the fourth method the girl's parents handed her over to the young man's parents to do with her what they would. It is needless to say that the first way was the most honored and respected and the last was most mortifying to the girl's parents and it was used by none but the very poorest.