months. I do with thee (the work) that is sacred to Prajāpathi; may an embryo enter the womb. May a child be born without deficiency, with all its limbs, not blind, not lame, not sucked out by Pisāchas" (devils). The marriage is brought to a close, after this recitation, with the presentation of fruits, etc., to all the Brāhmans assembled, and to all relations, children included. The bridegroom chews betel for the first time on this day. The wrist-threads are removed, and the seed-pans containing the seedlings, which have been worshipped daily, are taken in procession to a tank (pond), into which the seedlings are thrown.
It will be noticed that prayers for male issue are of frequent occurrence during the marriage ceremonial.In Sanskrit works, Putra (son) is defined as one who delivers a parent from a hell called put. It is generally believed that the welfare of a parent's soul depends on the performance of srādh (memorial services) by his son. It was laid down by Manu that a man is perfect, when he consists of three — himself, his wife, and his son. In the Rig Vēda it is stated that " when a father sees the face of a living son, he pays a debt in him, and gains immortality. The pleasure which a father has in his son exceeds all other enjoyments. His wife is a friend, his daughter an object of companion, his son shines as his light in the highest world." The following story of a certain pious man of ascetical temperament, who determined to shirk the religious duty of taking a wife, is narrated by Monier Williams: — " Quietly skipping over the second prescribed period of life, during which he ought to have been a householder (grihastha), he entered at once upon the third period — that is to say, he became an ascetic, abjured all female society, and retired to the woods. Wandering about one day,
