Hindu Wedding Ceremony are replete with rituals and customs Wedding in India is much more than mere fineries and clothes, invitation and decoration, wedding planner and dining experience. The bondage of two hearts is of the utmost importance in a Hindu wedding. Interestingly enough the families of the groom and Bride plays a major part in Hindu Wedding Ceremony The Ritual of the Hindu Wedding too is symbolic of beautiful and noble sentiments.
Significantly enough each ritual and custom signifies something or the other, good or evil, romantic or religious, small or big. For instance the color black is considered ominous in Hindu Marriages. The color red is supposedly lucky for the newly wed bride. Again banana leaves are considered pious.
South Indian Wedding are elaborate fares. The ceremonial place is decorated with full-grown plantain trees tied to both the gateposts, festoons overhead of mango leaves, and screw-pine petals. The melancholy note of the Shennai plays in the background.
Rangoli and Kolam motifs mark the wedding doors. On the wedding eve the bridegroom is brought in a procession from a temple in a flower adorned car. In the Mandap the espousal ceremony takes place. Ganapati is invoked to help the marriage couple overcome all hindrances. To appease the gods an elaborate ritual is arranged which includes the presence of papal leaf which is considered sacred in Hindu mythology.
Ceremonies are performed to appease the planetary influences. The marriage ceremonies start with the Vratham performed separately by the bride and the groom. For the bride, it means the tying of the holy thread on her wrist which is meant to keep evil spirits at bay.. From there on, the groom prepares himself for a new chapter in his life as a householder or Grihasta. It indicates the willful acceptance of the groom's role as a husband.
At the marriage hall, the bride's father and the bridegroom's father facing each other, formalize the final betrothal ceremony, the Vedic priest chanting the appropriate hymns-in which the names of the bride, the bridegroom, as well as the names of their 3 generations of ancestors, are cited in presence of all the friends, relatives, and invitees. The bride and the groom are lifted to the shoulders of their respective uncles, and in that position they exchange flower garlands with each other thrice for a perfect union. Here the exchange of garlands symbolizes their union - as one soul in two bodies. It is inward acceptance by each of the very fragrance of the other.
The bride and the bridegroom takes seven steps with each other while the priest chant mantras of commitment, purity, responsibilities, and bliss.
The belief is that when one walks 7 steps with another, one becomes the other's friend. The married couple takes their vow in front of Agi the fire god. They circle around the fire, and feed it with ghee, and twigs of 9 types of trees, as sacrificial firewood. The vapors that arise, are supposed to possess therapeutic, healing and purification effects on the bodies of the couple.
Akshadai, or rice-grains coated with turmeric and saffron, which is considered to be pious are showered on the couple, by the elders and the invitees. Taking with her, fire from the Laaja Homam, the bride leaves her home, and enters the new home of her in-laws.
TourtoIndia.com offers online information on the South Indian Wedding Traditions and online reservation for tour to India. To book a tour to India, please fill up the form given below:
|
