a good trend
as we all know, the Hindu marriage comprises of various rituals over a day or a 5 day period, depending on how religious the families are. I've been to a lot of weddings and I guess its the same with most of you as well. but how much do we know about the process itself? not everything but atleast the major ones like Saptapadhi, or Kaasi Yaatra, or Vratham etc.
gone are the days where everyone used to perform some ritual or the other and hence can understand the process in general. these days most of us need a manual or a website to understand anything :)
and I'm really glad to see that a few people have taken note of this and started issuing a small writeup on some of the important procedures, during their wedding. Infact one of our bloggers, Ranga aka The Last Blogger, had it on his invitation itself with some nice illustrations. I saw a similar one, with a detailed explanation, last month. It was very nice!
25 Comments:
Rituals today, are done ...just as their meaning..."Sadangu".
Writeups, casettes, videotapes! Name it..it is all there.!
I remember, one of my friends had a webcam in India and here. He had a priest do the instructions via the Webcam.! for a Poonal change ceremony ( god..forgot the name)
Idhu eppidi irukku!!!
Narayanan, the situation is slowly changing and thats what I pointed out.
Infact a lot of people are interested in knowing these rituals. and it becomes easier if the person performing it can explain in layman terms. and thats happening.
the vaadhyar (priest) we had during my wedding made it a point to explain the meaning of each & every ritual. he even took efforts to explain it to the guests..
While we had the satisfaction, many of the guests were impatient as the entire process took about an hour more than usual. Like u said, ppl are interested in knowing... certainly I fall into this category.
Hi saran!
Nice to hear people are taking so much care..
Anyways nobody seems to understand the meaning of these rituals..things change with time..
btw listened to chandramukhi songs :) nice..but konjam edho mallu songa remix panna maadhiri ella?:)
Chakra, was the food served after the talk :)
Prabha, illave illa. agmark superstar style ah irukkey. Padam konjam musical maadhiri irukku :)
malluvo kalluvo, ellarum lollu pannaama kelungappa.
Paran
Thanks for the note about my invitation. IT took a lot of effort to coordinate with the artist and stuff from the US but my dad helped a lot and the entire effort was definitely worth it. So many of my American friends wrote back saying it was a nice intro to Indian marriage rituals. Will try to post that shot in my blog and link it up.
Narayanan
I remember doing one such live webcast of my niece's naming ceremony in the US to folks back in India. Was good.
Chakra
I had a nice vadhyar who did the same too. And yes, the guests were bored to death.
Ranga, you are welcome.
Ithu varaikkkum cinema thavira nera nan thaali katti parthathe illa. yenna eppovume stage la oru 25 ppl suthi ninukittu totala enna nadakuthune thriyama panniduvanga.
seri namma stage mela yeri polamna, avulo crowd munnadi poi nikurathukku konjam vetkam, ella crowdum nammalathan pakkuratha nenapu......
I've heard from my parents that some of the "vilayaattu" stuff, like the oonjal on the wedding day, the nalangu on the day before, etc are rooted in the now-illegal practice of child marriage. Apparently they were put in place to keep the kids interested enough in their own marriage! Of course, now-a-days its funny to see older uncles trying to lift the bride or the groom over their heads...
Would love to know more about these rituals, and considering how things have evolved with Hinduism, I honestly would not be surprised to know that these are rooted in nature!
Ramesh, thats an interesting observation. But I remember reading a different reason for the oonjal.
kay, kavala padathey sagodhara, un kalyanathin podhu nee medaila kandippa iruppa, appa ellar kannum un mela thaan irukkum :)
Jagan, athan sonnene, its the same with most of us.
kay, kavala padathey sagodhara, un kalyanathin podhu nee medaila kandippa iruppa, appa ellar kannum un mela thaan irukkum :)
Jagan, athan sonnene, its the same with most of us.
saran, interesting post and the comments were also interesting to read.
its very true that most of the rituals are deeply rooted in nature right from using fire as a witness for the whole ceremony.
the vaadhiyaar in my brother's marriage also took the effort to explain the rituals.
jagan, a google search will throw up a lot of site explaining the marriage rituals (all in English).
After all marriage is just a social contract and it is very important to understand the fine print before making commitments.
Thanks for all your thoughts and clarifications.
I am not sure how many of us would do things not knowing why its done?
Why the heck do we have ammi midhithal, arundhadhi parthal, nalungu, etc..etc...in these modern days.!
Sorry, folks, I might look a little rude here...but then that's what is my opinion.
I completely agree with Narayanan. we should be able to pick and choose the rituals and as a first step we should understand all the rituals and then take an informed decision.
I just found this interesting link
http://www.sawnet.org/weddings/radha.html
Thanks Manoj.
Narayanan, I'm not going into the questioning of these practices. I'll leave that debate for different day.
All I say is, we all do it and it will only be nice if we can understand what it is.
manoj, I agree with you on the first learn and then choose route.
My take on Vedic marriages, it isn't bad at all. If you can understand whats going on, its really a nice feeling. and since its more or less inevitable, its better if we atleast learn something about it.
To indulge Narayanan's comments..why do we have these rituals in these modern days? Well, if for nothing else, they are symbolic. If we can still entertain the concept of idols and photos of gods as symbolic representation of the Higher Power, I see no problem in entertaining the symbolic rituals of marriage. Afterall for the huge majority, it IS a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
As for the vilayattu stuff, at the very least, it provided for a much needed "break-in-the-action". And having seen through the weddings of my brother and sister, I will vouch for their refreshing nature.
but hey, to each his/her own. just as long as the ultimate meaning (the ends) is known..the means don't matter.
To understand the meaning of rituals is a good thing. But IMHO it would be pointless to attempt to correlate or to question their purpose in the light of "modern day". Some rituals may seem to be purposeful NOW, but many others may seem purposeless. Thats because modern day logic or thinking doesn't encompass all the knowledge of all times - it is just a perspective existant during current times. Ancient times had a different perspective that was based on a different system of thought, with many rituals, astrology and other religious practices. So it is immaterial to look at Ammi midithal, Arundathi paarthal with present day logic. If we go about choosing rituals with present day logic and "scientific" thinking, we might not even be able to choose to believe Agni, Sapta padi, many rituals or even God, since there may not be tangible, "scientific" proof for many of these. Even if you know the meaning of the rituals, there's no point in judging something of a different era and choosing based on present day's limited vision. So the choice is just whether we want to believe or not believe.
Saran
I have, as promised, uploaded a black and white version of the first page of my wedding invitation in my blog. Feel free to peruse/download. If someone needs a higher resolution pic, let me know.
Its at http://thelastblogger.blogspot.com
saranyan - are you getting married soon? If so, are you doing a market survey of sorts here - trying to find out what the visitors will like etc? :)
I second Ramesh's opinion. Its impossible to point a torch to the sky and try to concentrate. Rather it would be easy if we can point it to an object. Thats the logic behind symbolic stuff and idol worship in general. The same applies to vedic marriages as well.
Even in the old ages, ammi midhithal and arunthathi paarthal were symbolic. No groom went till Kaasi. Its just that we give a shape to these things and there is nothing wrong in this.
Hand O'er Skin, please re-read my original post. I'm not responsible for the change of track in these comments section :)
I was merely pointing out a nice trend :) and Ranga has even uploaded that invitation in his blog.
since you interested in knowming my plans, may I know who you are :)
Exactly... Some rituals are symbolic, some have spiritual purposes and others have tangible benefits. So it is just a matter of belief, in appreciating the meaning or following them.
An understanding of the rituals would provide a better involvement in doing them, instead of just doing for the sake of it.
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