There are seven mantras recited during Hindu marriage ritual. Each mantra is recited with each encirclement around fire by bride and bridegroom together. It is said that they take oath in front of Agni god to live together happily and to perform duties enunciated in mantras. But looking at mantra where the term 'bhava' is used in every mantra, it conveys the meaning - 'to become' like different forms of Agni ; starting with "Ish eka padi' which resemble with 'ajA eka pAt' which is RigVedic connotation for Sun; and also the second one - 'urja' the energy. Since oath is taken before Agni not before any other god, it seems to be a Vedic ritual of marriage where Agni is first and foremost god. The following are those mantras:-
Om Ish eka padi bhava
Om urje dvi padi bhava
Om rayo poshan tri padi bhava
Om maayo bhavya chatus padi bhava
Om prajambha panch padi bhava
Om ritumbha sat padi bhava
Om sakhe sapt padi bhava
It appears that there is no scripture explaining these mantra as described here. However many scriptures are aware of these mantras. Since marriage is a regular affair for priests, it might be possible that these mantra persisted and carried forward through the memory of officiating priests like RigVeda.
My question here is - Can we provide literal interpretation of these mantras to explain 'what is it'?
