The wedding ceremony is the actual function when the bride is given away by her parents to her new family. The traditional Tamil wedding is a beautiful and complex process and involves several hours of Pooja (prayer) involving beautiful, traditional rituals.While the wedding itself starts by 6:00 am in the morning, the most auspicious time and the main wedding-The Muhurtham will be between 7:30 and 9:00 am.
Wedding Rituals...
Kashi Yatra (kaa-shee yaa-tra)
This is Ashok's favourite part of the wedding. This a dramatic enactment by the groom- the idea is that the young bachelor – is on his way to Kasi (Varanasi) to become an ascetic. He is intercepted by the bride's father – who extols the virtues of married life, and offers his daughter to him as a companion, to face the challenges of life. (It's a different issue that he wouldn't have got to this point if he hadn't already agreed.) He carries certain standard paraphernalia - the umbrella is held for him, but he also has a fan and a little vessel for water.
Maalai maathal (maa-ley maath-al)
. Wearing flowers worn by another is forbidden in the Sastras, but here the exchange symbolises their unification – one soul in two bodies. We tend to make a game out of this though with each trying to hook the other first - apparently the person who does so first will be the boss in the relationship! and he was the one who did it first the one and only reason being his height ,there is like one foot difference between the both of us:)
Kanya danam (kan-yaa daa-num)
The bride accepts her change of status from an unmarried woman to a wife by spreading turmeric powder on her hands.Kanya Danam is performed by the father (or uncle of guardian) of the bride in presence of a large gathering that is invited to witness the wedding. The father pours out a libation of sacred water symbolizing the giving away of the daughter to the bride groom. The groom recites Vedic hymns to Kama, the God of love, for pure love and blessings.
As a condition for offering his daughter for marriage, the father of the bride requests a promise from the groom for assisting the bride in realizing the three ends : dharma, artha, and kama. The groom makes the promise by repeating three times that he will not fail the bride in realizing dharma, artha and kama.
This was pretty emotional for me to handle coz my mom was crying as she was giving me away in front of agni
Mangalya dharanam (man-gal-ya dhaa-ra-num)
The bride traditionally wears a yellow cotton 9 yard sari The groom’s sister is supposed to drape this saree as a way of welcoming the bride into the family. I did practice before, so if you are not comfortable weraing practice it b4 hand otherwise its going be really difficult on the big day
Anyway, so the bride and the groom sit facing each other and the groom ties the mangalsutra around her neck. He ties the first knot, and his sister (or co-opted cousin!), ties the other two knots (called 'mudichu' in Tamil) to the accompaniment of the Naadaswaram and Mridangam. This bit is called the 'getti melam', and this is the crescendo-ing music I told you about earlier.
The assembled gathering shower 'akshadai' or turmeric-ed and saffron-ed rice & flowers which is symbolic of their blessings being showered on the couple.
This was the moment which took my breath away :) i will always treasure this for the rest of my lyf :)
Sapta padi (sap-ta pa-di)
Literally meaning seven steps, this is what the couple do while holding hands.
If you take seven steps together, around the fire worshipped as divinity of agni you become friends for life.
At each step, the following vows are meant to be chanted:
We take the 1st step to provide for a happy & healthy life.
We take the 2nd step to acquire physical & mental strength.
We take the 3rd step to increase our wealth by diligence & righteousness.
We take the 4th step to acquire knowledge, happiness & harmony by mutual love & trust.
We take the 5th step so that we are blessed with strong, virtuous and loving children.
We take the 6th step to promise to care for each other for a long life together.
We take the 7th step to be true companions and remain partners for life.
Ammi midhikal (am-mee mi-dhi-kyal)
Literally, stepping on the grindstone, which the groom helps the bride do whill holding her left toe. It's symbolic of the solid foundation of the marriage. The prayers say:
"Step on this rock
Be firm like this rock
Bear with all trials & tribulations"
Some kodak moments
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