Yesterday, my wife and I attended a Hindu wedding near Detroit. The wedding on the whole went fine. However, the priest, while having the bride and the groom take the oath of commitments, did two things. In addition to "dharme ca arthe ca kāme ca", he added "mokṣe ca". This was something I have not heard before. But more shocking was the fact that he inadvertently dropped "na" from the phrase "na aticarāmi". Evidently, the priest did not realize this in the flow of his performance, and no one else attending the wedding, besides me, noticed this either. Clearly, dropping the "na" in "na aticarāmi" was an error. But is the addition of "mokṣe ca" to "dharme ca arthe ca kāme ca" found in some regions of India?
Madhav M. Deshpande
Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics
Department of Asian Languages and Cultures
202 South Thayer Street, Suite 6111
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-1608, USA