Indian Wedding

The North-Eastern Indian state, Manipur is blessed with a rich cultural heritage and verdant scenic beauty. The word ‘Manipur’ means the land of gems. This tribal state is famous for its colorful festivals and other traditions. Mostly this land is occupied by tribal folks and these folks spread in the neighboring states as well.

Their weddings are as colorful and spectacular as their traditions. All the tribes follow almost similar rituals with slight variations in the customs and costumes. People of Manipur prefer weddings in their own community, but are not opposed to inter caste marriages outside Manipuri community too.

Among the tribes “Magh”, young men and women select their partners at the grand New Year Festival when they get an opportunity to know each other closely and inform their parents and seek their approval. Young girls from the tribes Garo, Tippra, Khasia and Magh often go to the market to buy and sell goods. The boys and girls use this opportunity to know each other closely, choose their partners and with the consent and blessings of the parents get married. Young men and women of the tribes “Santal”, “Garo” and “Manipuri”, while working in the fields together, come to know and understand each other well and are able to select their life partners.

Manipuri weddings are held according to the customs and traditions. In the starting approach, known as “Hinaba”, the boy’s parents visit the girl’s house and meet her parents. The horoscopes of the boy and the girl are matched. If both the parents agree the nest meeting, termed as “Yathang Thanaga”, is fixed. In this meeting the parents of the girl give their consent for the wedding. In the next ritual, “Waroipot puba”, the boy’s relatives bring food items and finally contract for the wedding is sealed. Then the engagement, known as “Heijapot” is announced among the friends and relatives. The groom’s friends and relatives bring fruits, food and gifts to the bride’s house. The relatives and friends are invited and the Brahmin priest finalizes the wedding date and rituals.

A “Manipuri” wedding party puts up a grand spectacular show, but very little is spent on feasts. Usually a wedding in a “Meitei “house in Imphal, the capital city of Manipur, is attended by not less than thirty cars. When a wedding is attended by a convoy of cars it is considered as a status symbol. The men come in dhoti and kurta and a shawl wrapped around while their women come in pink “fanek” and “chader”.

Manipuris erect beautiful and spacious wedding “Pandals”/sheds in which the bride and groom walk around to be greeted with paddy and “durva” grass. For the reception ceremony, at the entrance a “Meitei” woman offers a “thali” or plate with a banana leaf containing betel nut, betel leaves and “tamul”. Seats are provided around a “Tulsi” platform. In every platform a ‘tulsi’, a sacred plant, is grown over a raised platform around which all the auspicious ceremonies are performed.

The groom is given a warm welcome by lighting a “Pradip” and washing his feet by a young boy accompanied by the singing of “kirtan” and playing of traditional music. “Kirtans” and “shahnai” music are played while the couple completes the seven “pheras”/rounds, the bride taking the steps in a rhythmic style with the music.

One woman from each side releases a pair of “Taki” fish, representing the bride and groom, into the water. If the pair of fish swims side by side it is considered as an auspicious omen. Garos follow a similar ceremony in which a cock and hen with throats cut are left to the ground. If they come together to die it is taken as a good omen. Otherwise, to get rid of ill omen, remedy is done through payer and spell by a “khamal”, the mendicant.

Manipuries offer exceptionally special food to the Gods and other deities on this occasion. These people believe, by pleasing them, the Gods will bless the couple in abundance. On the fifth day after the wedding, the Manipuri bride comes to her parents’ house for the first time. All members of the clan are invited to this ritual and they all participate with gifts such as rice, meat, fowls, pigs, money or alcohol and a prolific feast is served to them.

The costume of a Manipuri bride is very unique; she wears the “Raslila” skirt on her wedding day. “Chakmas” brides wear red and black sarong called “Pindhan” along with a blouse called “silum”. “Magh” bride’s puts on a “thami”/sarong that covers the body from chest to knee over a full-sleeved jacket or choli.

Though a land or gold and gems, the “Maniprri” brides wear only a very limited variety of jewelry. In North Bengal the various tribal women wear almost similar ornaments. “Santal” and “Oraon” tribal women wear jewelry such as necklaces bangles, anklets, nose-rings and earrings. “Oraon” women put up their hair in a peak style and adorn their forehead with a jewelry called “tikli”. Brides of “Chakma” tribes wear necklaces, coin earrings, bangles and anklets. “Garo” brides do their hair style using a bun, adorned with flowers. “Magh” women brighten their faces with a kind of herbal powder or wood paste.

The bridegroom’s costme consists of a white dhoti, kurta and turban. Lower class “Garos”, even today, wear a small piece of cloth, just enough to conceal nudity. In the deep hilly forests the tribasl use leaves as their wedding dress. “Santal” groom’s outfits are called “Panchi”, “Panchatat” and “Matha”. The main wedding dress of the “Chakmas” is a “lungi” worn along with a shirt.

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The natives of the North Indian state Rajasthan, Rajputs, believe that they are the direct descendants of the Kshatriya clan, the original Aryans. The word “Rajput” means king’s son or prince and so one can see glimpses of royal touch in their weddings filled with richness and extravagance.

In the pre wedding rite ‘Tilak’ or the engagement ceremony, performed at the groom’s house and attended only by the male members of the bride’s family, the bride’s brother applies a “Tilak”/”Bindi” to the groom’s forehead so that the engagement becomes official. The gifts given to the groom include a sword, clothes, fruits and sweets.
“Ganapath Sthapana” the installation of an idol of Lord Ganesha and “Griha Shanthi”, performed to propitiate the Gods are also very important rituals.
“Pithi Dastoor,” is a ritual for the bride and the groom held in their respective houses. From seven days before the wedding, each day a paste of turmeric and oil applied to their faces, arms and feet till the wedding day. Once this ceremony begins they are banned to leave their houses.
During the Pithi Dastoor and through out the wedding ceremony women singers like ‘dholans’ with ‘dholaks’and ‘mehfils’ and male ‘mehfils’ sing various auspicious pre wedding and wedding songs for men and women separately in the homes of the bride and groom. The musical instruments like ‘Shehnai’ and ‘nagara’ are played in the courtyard or garden.
In the ceremony “Mahira dastoor” the maternal uncle of the bride or the groom gives clothes, jewelry and sweets to the whole family. “Janey” ceremony is important for the groom as he wears the sacred thread on the eve of his wedding, dressed in saffron. The “Padla dastoor”, a custom observed only by the Rajputs, is held a day prior to the wedding or on the wedding day wherein the groom’s relatives bring gifts like clothes, jewelry etc for the bride to wear during the wedding ceremony.
The bridal costume is a resplendent traditional Rajasthani “Poshak” for the wedding ceremony usually red in color, but orange, yellow, gold and pink ‘poshaks’ are also preferred. The bride wears certain traditional jewelry that have their own significance. The “Rakhri”, a circular piece worn on the forehead at the parting of the hair emphasizes that she should always be straight forward. Her ears have danglers that advise her never to listen to gossip. “Timaniyaan”, a choker encrusted with uncut diamonds indicate that she should always show humility by bowing her head. A set of ivory and gold bangles, ‘chudda’ tells her to help the poor and needy. She also wears gold and stone-studded “bajuband”/armlets, gold anklets reminding her to ‘put the right foot forward’, gold toe-rings known as “bichhiya” and a stone-studded “nath”/nose ring tells her to spend within what her husband can afford.
The Rajput ‘baraat’/wedding procession, an all male affair, has the groom dressed in a gold “achkan”, an orange turban decorated with a ‘sirpech’, a ‘churidar’ or jodhpurs and ‘jootis’/shoes that are highlighted with a necklace and a cummerbund. The groom proceeds to the wedding venue mounted on a decorated mare or elephant along with a child and sporting a sword. The male members from his family carrying swords and a band playing the hit songs accompany the groom.
The males in the bride’s family welcome the groom’s party and the groom is taken to the ladies section where bride’s mother receives him with the traditional “Aarti” and directs him to the wedding altar. A “Pujar”(Brahmin priest) officiates the wedding ceremony by lighting the sacred fire and chanting Vedic mantras/hymns. Tying the groom’s shawl to the bride’s ‘duppata’ or veil the couple walks around the fire seven times/seven ‘pheras’ at the end of which the groom adorns the bride’s wrist with green glass bangles. The bride all the while wears a veil over he face.

When the bride leaves her house for the “Grihapravesh” ceremony the groom’s family blesses her with showering flowers and coins. The bride enters the “Sasural”/father-in-law’s house with her right foot first followed by certain games between the bride and groom. In “Pagelagani” the veiled bride is introduced to all family members ending with the removal of the VEIL

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