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Legend · 3 tellings · Pan-India

The wedding of Surya and Soma

Who is in it

Texts: Rigveda

The story, beat by beat

  1. The hymn sets Soma in heaven among the constellations, the one no one on earth tastes.
  2. Soma woos Surya; the Ashvins are groomsmen; Savitar gives her, willing.
  3. Her robe, pillow, eye ointment and chariot are songs, thought, sight and spirit.
  4. The Ashvins are teased about the wheel of their three-wheeled car.
  5. Surya is told to mount the golden chariot of kimshuka and shalmali wood.
  6. The Gandharva Vishvavasu is asked to leave the bride.
  7. The bride is loosed from her father's house and Pushan leads her by the hand.
  8. The groom takes her hand; Soma, the Gandharva and Agni had her before him.
  9. Blessings: never be parted, play with sons and grandsons, rule the household.

wedding bride blessing race moon

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Rigveda 10.85

Pan-India All traditions

The hymn opens with Soma in heaven amid the constellations: the Soma the Brahmans know is never tasted on earth, swells again when the gods drink, and shapes the years. Soma is the wooer, the Ashvins groomsmen, Savitar gives willing Surya. Her equipment is immaterial: songs adorn her robe, thought is her pillow, her spirit the car, heaven its cover. Agni leads the train. Vishvavasu is dismissed. She is freed from Savitar's bond, Pushan takes her hand, the Ashvins carry her. The human groom takes her hand; Soma, Gandharva and Agni were her earlier lords. Blessings for long life, children and rule over the household close the hymn. Sun and moon circle like playing children; the moon is born new again and again.

Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer § 10.85

Primary text (translation)

Aitareya Brahmana 4.7-9

Pan-India All traditions

Prajapati gives his daughter Surya Savitri to King Soma; all the gods come as groomsmen; for the wedding he makes a thousand verses. Each god wants them, so they race from Agni the house-lord to the sun. Agni leads on a mule car, then Ushas with red cows, then Indra with horses; the Ashvins ask each to give way (they do not dare say it to Indra) and grant each a share. The Ashvins win on an ass car, so the litany is the Ashvina with sections for Agni, Ushas and Indra. Mules are barren because Agni scorched them, dawn is red, and the ass is the slowest beast but keeps double seed. The reciter eats ghee first, as a cart is oiled.

What is different here:

Father is Prajapati; the wedding is the occasion for a race among the gods for the Ashvina recitation; nothing about the bride's journey or the blessings.

Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920) § ab-4.7-9

Encyclopedia

Hindu wedding rite today

Pan-India All traditions

RV 10.85 is regarded as the root of the Vedic wedding rite. Verses from it are recited in the ceremony: 10.85.23 when the elders go to ask for the bride, 10.85.44 when the groom first looks at her, 10.85.47 for the joining of hearts; oblations in the main homa salute Soma, the Gandharva and Agni, the bride's earlier guardians.

What is different here:

Living ritual use rather than a narrative; the divine couple recede and the verses bless a human bride and groom.

Hindu wedding - Wikipedia

Sources: Hymns of the Rigveda, tr. R. T. H. Griffith (1896), hymns read for the Vedic layer; Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920); Hindu wedding - Wikipedia

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