The Veda 43

A IVw/mu’: I nc(z1ziat'ian zzgaizzst /ier Jfizml.

I. I have taken unto myself her fortune and her glory, 1|. :7. wrt-nth off :\ tree. As :1 hruzld-based. mountain may she sit it long time with her parents !

2. This wnmam shnll he .‘i\ll)jCCl8d to thee as thy bride, 0 King Yxumt (Pluto) : till then let her be fixed to the lmnse of her mother, or her brother, or her father !

3. This woman shall he the keeper of thy house, 0 King Ymnn: her do we deliver over to thee! May she lnng sit with her parents, until her hair drops from her head l

4. With the incantation of Asita, of Kacyapa, and of Craya do I cover up thy fortune, as women cover things within a chest.

(At/mrmv Vmla, i. 14.) ‘

The poetic stanzas of all sorts, and the ritualistic prose formulas of the Veda collectively go by the name of mmzim, “pious utterance " or “ hymn." In the texts of one group of Yz\jur—Vedas, the so-called Black Ynjur.Vedas,’ these stanzas and prose formulas alternate with descriptive prose chapters which tell how these mantra; are to be used at the sacrifice, and why they are to be used in a given way. The passages are designated as 12m’/mmzuz. In the case of the so-called White Yajur~Vedas and also all the other Vedas the Brihmanas are compiled into sep-

‘See the same work, pp. 107 and 252 .9.‘ ‘ For the distinction between Black and White Yajur—Veda see M an, dnnell, Hz‘:/ury of Sanskrit Litmztm-2, p. 177.