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The Grihya Sutras, Part 2 (SBE30), by Hermann Oldenberg, [1892], at sacred-texts.com
1. 1 Under the Maghâs (Nakshatra) cows are provided;
2. Under the Phalgunî (Nakshatra) marriage is celebrated.
3. 3 A daughter whom he wishes to be dear (to her husband), a father should give in marriage under the Nishtyâ (Nakshatra); thus she becomes dear (to her husband); she does not return (to her father's) house: this is an observance based on a Brâhmana.
4. 4 The word Invakâs means Mrigasiras; the word Nishtyâ means Svâti.
5. 5 At the wedding one cow;
6. In the house one cow:
7. With the (first cow) he should prepare an Argha reception for the bridegroom as for a guest,
8. With the other (the bridegroom [?] should do so) for a person whom he reveres.
9. These are the occasions for killing a cow: (the arrival of) a guest, (the Ashtakâ sacrifice offered to) the Fathers, and marriage.
10. 10 Let (the wooer) avoid in his wooing a girl that sleeps, or cries, or has left home.
11. 11 And let him avoid one who has been given (to another), and who is guarded (by her relations), and one who looks wicked (?), or who is a most
excellent one (?), or (who is like the fabulous deer) sarabha (?), a hunch-back, a girl of monstrous appearance, a bald-headed girl, a girl whose skin is like a frog's (?), a girl who has gone over to another family (?), a girl given to sensual pleasures (?), or a herdess, or one who has too many friends, or who has a fine younger sister, or one whose age is too near to that of the bridegroom (?).
12. 12 Girls who have the name of a Nakshatra, or of a river, or of a tree, are objectionable.
13. And all girls in whose names the last letter but one is r or l, one should avoid in wooing.
14. If possible, he should place (the following) objects hidden before the girl, and should say to her, 'Touch (one of these things).'
15. (The objects are), different kinds of seeds mixed together, loose earth from (the kind of sacrificial altar called) vedi, an earth-clod from a field, cow-dung, and an earth-clod from a cemetery.
16. 16 If she touches one of the former (objects, this portends) prosperity as characterized (by the nature of what she has touched).
17. The last is regarded as objectionable.
18. Let him marry a girl of good family and character, with auspicious characteristics, and of good health.
19. Good family, a good character, auspicious characteristics, learning, and good health: these are the accomplishments of a bridegroom.
20. A wife who is pleasing to his mind and his
eyes, will bring happiness to him; let him pay no attention to the other things: such is the opinion of some.
255:1 3, 1, 2. Comp. Rig-veda X, 85, 13; Atharva-veda XIV, i, 13; Kausika-sûtra 75; Râmâyana I, 71, 24; 72, 13; Weber, Die vedischen Nachrichten von den Naxatra, II, 364 seq. These parallel passages most decidedly show that in Sûtra 2 we ought to read vyuhyate, not vyûhyate.
256:3 Comp. Taittirîya Brâhmana I, 5, 2, 3.
256:4 Comp. Sûtra 3, and above, Section 2, Sûtra 16.
256:5 5-8. Comp. Sâṅkhâyana-Grihya I, 12, 10. It is clear that with the first cow the bride's father has to receive the bridegroom. The 'house' mentioned in Sûtra 6 seems to be the house of the newly-married couple. In the expression 'whom he reveres,' 'he,' according to the commentaries, is the bridegroom.
256:10 This Sûtra forms a half-sloka.
256:11 Most expressions in this Sûtra are quite doubtful, and their translation rests on the explanations of the commentators (see pp. 44, 45 of Dr. Winternitz's edition), which are evidently for the most part only guesses.
257:12 12, 13. These Sûtras would require only slight alterations to make a sloka.
257:16 The seeds mean offspring, and so on.