1 By Truth is the earth upheld; by the light of God are the heavens upheld. By Law the Boundless stand secure, and the provision of God holds its place in heaven.

2 By His provision the Boundless are strong, by His provision mighty is the earth. Thus the moon in the lap of all these constellations has its home.

3 One thinks, when men have brayed the plant, that he has drunk the juice. Of him whom the learned truly know, never mortal eats.

4 When they begin to drink, then, O God, You swell out again. The wind is the sentinel. The month is that which shapes the years.

5 Preserved by covering rules, guarded by hymns, You stand listening to the stones; none tastes of You who dwells on earth.

6 Thought was her coverlet, the power of sight was unguent for her eyes; her treasure-chest was earth and heaven, when the bride went unto her lord.

7 Praise was her dear bridal friend, and the song of the excellence of men led her home. Lovely to see was the bride's robe; by song beautified she moves.

8 Songs were the cross-bars of the pole, a fair metre decked her head; both the pair of helpers were the match-makers; the fire was leader of the train.

9 The provision of God was the one who wooed the maid; the groomsmen were both helpers, when the Life-giver bestowed his willing daughter on her lord.

10 Her spirit was the bridal car, the canopy thereof was heaven; two radiant oxen formed the team when the bride came unto her lord.

11 Steadily went the steers upheld by holy verse and song of praise. Your chariot-wheels were listening ears; your path was tremulous in the sky.

12 Pure, as you went, were your wheels, breath was the axle piercing them. The bride, advancing to her lord, rode on the chariot of her heart.

13 The bridal pomp of the bride, which the Life-giver started, moved along. In the days of Magha are oxen slain; in the days of Phalguni they wed the bride.

14 When on your three-wheeled chariot, O twin helpers, you came as suitors unto the bridal, where was one chariot-wheel of yours? Where stood you for the sire's command?

15 Twin lords of lustre, at the time when you came to the wooing, then all agreed to your proposal. The Nourisher as son elected you as father.

16 Two wheels of yours the learned know, bride, according to their times; that which is hidden only those who know the highest truths have learned.

17 Worship we pay to God, finder of husbands, kindly friend. As from its stalk a cucumber, from here I loose you, not from there.

18 Hence and not thence I send her free, I make her softly fettered there, that, O bounteous God, she may live blest in her fortune and her sons.

19 Now from the noose of the All-Seeing I free you, wherewith the blessed Life-giver has bound you. May bliss be yours together with your husband in the dwelling of Order, in the world of virtue.

20 Let the Bestower take your hand and hence conduct you; let the two helpers on their car transport you. Go to the house to be the household's mistress, and speak as lady to your gathered people.

21 Happy be you and prosper with your children here; be vigilant to rule your household in this home. Closely unite your body with this man your lord. So shall you, full of years, address your company.

22 Be not divided; dwell here; reach the full time of human life; with sons and grandsons sport and play, rejoicing in your happy home.

23 Moving by His power from east to westward, these two young creatures go sporting round the ocean. The one beholds all creatures; you, the other, are born anew, duly arranging the seasons.

24 You, born afresh, are new and new for ever; ensign of the days, before the dawns you go. Coming, you order for the angels their portion. You lengthen, O moon, the days of our existence.

25 Give the woollen robe away; deal treasure to the scholars. Let the wife attend upon her lord.

30 The scholar takes away the robe as a fair thing that brings good luck. He knows the rite of atonement whereby the wife is kept unharmed.

31 Prepare, you twain, happy and prosperous fortune, speaking the truth in faithful utterances. Dear unto her, O Lord of Prayer, make the husband, and pleasant be these words the wooer speaks.

32 Remain even here and go no farther; strengthen this man, O cows, with plenteous offspring. May dawns that come for glory, bright with provision, here may God fix and gladden your spirits.

33 Come, O cows, with offspring dwell around him: he does not stint the angels' allotted portion. To him, your friend, may the Nourisher and all the hosts of angels, to him may the Sustainer and the Life-giver send vigour.

34 Straight in direction be the paths, and thornless, whereby our fellows travel to the wooing. With the Bestower and the Friend may the Sustainer endue the pair with strength.

37 He who in water shines unfed with fuel, whom sages worship in their sacrifices, may the Child of the Waters send us sweet waters, those that enhanced the power of the Mighty One.

38 I cast away a handful here, hurtful, injurious to health. I lift another handful up, sparkling and bringing happiness.

39 Hither let the learned bring her bathing water; let them draw such as guards the lives of heroes. Let her go round the household fire, O Nourisher! Fathers-in-law stand, with their sons, expectant.

40 Blest be the gold to you, and blest the water, blest the yoke's opening, and blest the pillar. Blest be the waters with their hundred cleansings; blest be your body's union with your husband.

41 Cleansing Apala, O Mighty One, thrice You gave sun-bright skin to her, drawn, O Lord of a hundred powers, through the hole of car, of wagon, and of yoke.

42 Saying your prayer for cheerfulness, children, prosperity, and wealth, devoted to your husband, gird yourself for immortality.

43 As vigorous Sindhu won himself imperial lordship of the streams, so be queen of your household when you have come within your husband's home.

44 Over your husband's fathers and his brothers be queen; over your husband's sister and his mother bear supreme control.

45 They who have spun, and woven, and extended, who have drawn the ends together, may they invest you with full long existence. Heiress of lengthened life, put on this garment.

46 They mourn the living, they arrange the sacred rite; the men have set their thoughts upon a distant cast. They who have brought the forefathers this delightful gift, when wives allowed their lords the joy of their embrace.

47 I place upon the lap of the earth a firm auspicious stone to bring you children. Stand on it, greeted with joy, resplendent; a long long life may God vouchsafe you.

48 As in the olden time the Radiant One took the right hand of this our earth, even so I take and hold your hand: be not disquieted, with me, with children and with store of wealth.

49 God the Life-giver shall take your hand, and the Giver of provision shall make you rich in goodly offspring. Let the Radiant One, Lord Omniscient, make you happy, till old old age a wife unto your husband.

50 I take your hand in mine for happy fortune, that you may reach old age with me your consort. God, the Bestower, the Life-giver, the Giver of Plenty, has given you to be my household's mistress.

51 The Bestower and the Life-giver have clasped that hand of yours in theirs. By rule and law you are my wife; the master of your house am I.

52 Be it my care to cherish her; the Lord of Prayer has made you mine. A hundred autumns live with me your husband, mother of my sons!

53 The Maker, by order of the holy sages, has laid on her the robe of the Lord of Prayer for glory. By means of this let the Life-giver and the Bestower surround this dame, like the dawn, with her children.

54 May God, the Mighty and the Radiant, heaven and earth, the wind, the Friend and the All-Seeing, the Bestower, the Lord of Prayer, the host of servants, the Supreme and the Giver of provision magnify this dame with offspring.

55 It was the Lord of Prayer who first arranged the hair on the bride's head, and therefore, O you twain, we adorn this woman for her lord.

56 This lovely form the maiden wears; in spirit I long to look on her as my wife approaching. Her will I follow with my nine companions. Who is the sage that loosed the bonds that held her?

57 I free her: he who sees, within my bosom, my heart's nest knows how her fair form has struck me. I taste no stolen food; myself untying the nooses I am freed in spirit.

58 Now from the bond I loose you, wherein the blessed Life-giver has bound you. O bride, I give you here beside your husband fair space and room and pleasant paths to travel.

59 Lift up your weapons. Drive away the evil ones. Transport this woman to the world of virtue. The Sustainer, most wise, has found for her a husband. Let him who knows go before her.

60 The Bestower has formed the four legs of the litter, wrought the four pieces that compose the framework. The Maker has decked the straps that go across it. May it be blest, and bring us happy fortune.

61 Mount this, all-hued, gold-tinted, strong-wheeled, fashioned of Kinsuka wood, this chariot lightly rolling, bound for the world of life immortal. Make for your lord a happy bride's procession.

62 To us, O All-Seeing, bring her, kind to brothers; bring her, O Lord of Prayer, gentle to the cattle; bring her, O Mighty One, gentle to her husband; bring her to us, O Life-giver, blest with children.

63 Hurt not the girl, you pillars twain, upon the path which has been made. The portal of the heavenly home we make the bride's auspicious road.

64 Let prayer be offered up before and after, prayer in the middle, lastly, all around her. Reaching the inviolable castle, shine in your lord's world gentle and auspicious.