South Indian Telugu weddings has a number of rituals and customs and each is symbolic of beautiful and noble sentiments. As one enters the wedding venue of a South Indian wedding, one can notice full-grown plantain trees tied to the gateposts, overhead festoons of mango leaves and coconut petals, notes of the Nadaswaram, the South Indian Shehnai, Rangoli designs at the doorsteps and many more replicates the south India’s essence.
Festivities are lined up as the wedding day approaches with different rituals and ceremonies taking place at Bride and Groom’s residence.
The celebrations starts off with a ritual called Pasupu Kottadam; after which the wedding festivities continue with printing wedding cards, apparel
Haldi ceremony is followed by Mehendi ceremony, in which the bride will be applied with beautiful designs of henna. Her family and friends will be excited to take part in this ceremony to apply designs of henna to their hands and feet.
On the day of wedding, ritual of Snaatakam takes place at the groom’s residence before the wedding muhurtham. As a part of this custom, the groom is asked to wear a silver thread on his body. The ritual is conducted a few hours before to the wedding.
Kasi
Before the wedding ceremony, bride does the Goddess Gauripuja at her residence with all her family members before arriving at the mandap.
The bride and groom are not yet allowed to see each other, so a cloth barrier is used to separate them.
Kanyadanam ritual in which the bride’s father places her hand into the groom’s and says “I believe you as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and my daughter to be Goddess Lakshmi, here by I am giving you her to be your wife hereafter” .
Jeelakara Bellam ceremony is one in which the bride and groom with the clock striking the muhurtham (holy time fixed for the wedding) follow the Vedic mantras by the pandit, and place dough made of jaggery and cumin seeds onto their prospective partner’s head.
This is followed by Mangalya Dhahrana in which a necklace with mangalyam (two golden pendants) which symbolizes commitment, sacredness and safety offered by groom to bride by tying the nuptial knot around bride’s neck.
After this Saptapadi is performed in which the bride and the groom take the seven vows and seven pheras in presence of Agni (Fire).
Sthalipakam is a ritual in which the bride’s maternal uncle adorns the feet of bride with silver toe rings, which signifies the marriage will not perturbed by any disturbances and troubles.
Talambralu is the fun part in which bride and groom shower turmeric rice and flower petals on their partner’s head, as if there is a competition. After talambralu a game in which their wedding Ring of the groom and Silver toe ring of the bride are placed in a metal pot (Large metal vessel with a narrow neck) and the bride and the groom compete with each other to find the Gold ring in a best of three game.They say the one who wins most number of times is said to be dominating one in the marriage.
Followed by Arundhati darshan, the pandit take the bride and groom outdoors and shows them the (direction) double stars of Vashista and Arundhati, who as per the hindu mythology are the epitome of how an ideal couple should be. Nakshatra Darshan is symbolic of marital fulfilment and loyalty.
The wedding ceremony comes to the end with a ritual known as Appaginthalu (send off) in which the bride’s father gives her hand to her in laws and says she was my pride as a daughter hereafter she is your daughter, plea them to take care of her and maintain her dignity.
No comments:
Post a Comment