Introduction: The Wedding
Marriage is the intricate in everyone’s life. The joy and sorrow the both the feeling are born together in the mind of both the families. Marriage is the sacred attachment in the families where two families come together. There are certain rituals performed in Maharashtra which have the scientific as well as the cultural meaning but as the time changed the form of the rituals which were performed also changed but the core of the rituals which were performed stayed the same. The rituals in the wedding are were intricately woven that even the brighten of the skin of the bride and the groom are also taken care of.
Motif One: The rituals of the wedding
The rituals of the Maharashtrian weeding include the pre-wedding the wedding and the post wedding rituals. The pre wedding rituals include the Sakharpuda, Muhurta, Kelvan, Distibution of invitations. The wedding rituals include Grahamakh, Vyahibhojan, mangalashtak, kanyadan, lajjahoma, saptapadi, .The post wedding rituals: Girah pravesh,Satyanarayan pooja. each of the rituals and the ornaments used in these rituals have the specific meaning. let’s elaborate each of the rituals.
The pre-wedding rituals
The pre wedding rituals include the sakharpuda in which the Sugar box. This is a verbal agreement given by both the parent of the bribe and the groom that they will give their children the marriage. The groom’s parents give the box or packet of sugar to the bride’s parents and the bride’s parents give a coconut and the coin to the groom’s parents. Grooms parents al give saree to the pride which is the promise to the groom’s family that she will come to their house as they daughter in law. Now a day because of the modern culture the perspective of the new generation the rings play a very important role in the engagements. So after the traditional sakharpuda is done the rings are exchanged as the symbol of the engagement. This ceremony is also the symbol of the trust between both the families. As in olden days the bride and groom never met before this ritual was performed to tell each other and to prepare the minds of the bride and the groom for the marriage. This ritual is also known as the waangnischay.
The next ritual which is Muhurta. This ritual is done by both the families separately as this is the ritual when the auspicious time to offer the wedding card to Kuldaivat of the family. after this the distribution of the wedding card starts. Kelvan is the ritual when the close relatives call the family of the bride or the groom to their houses for either lunch or dinner. This ritual is done for the bonding of the family as this is the coming of the new member to the house. This ritual is halad is known as (Ghana bharne). Before doing all the preparations of the flour and masala the pooja is done of all the instruments. The food grains used in the wedding is made before the wedding was one of the important ritual. Halad is done because turmeric is the natural intoxicant of to make the clear skin of both the bride and the groom this ritual is done. But now a day as we are all familiar the facials and the beauty products this has on left for the purpose of the tradition.
The next ritual is called dev-devak, this ritual is performed in the house before the wedding as in olden days the pavilion used to build in the courtyard of the house so to protect the pavilion this pooja is done. Also if the person from the family or the relatives is expiring then the restriction are not on the family members of the bride or the groom. There are main 2 groups 2 separates duties in this one is Ganapati who is the lord of good deeds and also known as the Vighnaharta, Kuladaivat this is the good to which the family prays from generations to generations, 27 Matrikas the known unknown mistakes are forgiven, 6 mandap devata. The next ritual of vyahibhojan is done before the wedding is in which the family of bride calls the grooms family for lunch.
The wedding rituals
The mundavlya which are woren by both the bride and the groom are the thread or the beads woren on the heads of them to recude the stress as it presses the point on the head. Rukhvat is the ritual which orignate from the old tradition in which the groom comes to the bride’s place after that he comes he is given the water to drink and to wash his feet. The ritual of Mangalashtaka is the important ritual from all the wedding rituals. Mangalashtaka means the shloke which has 8 paragraphs. In the presence of all the god, goddesses and all the relatives they should lead the life as the meaning of the shlok. The antarpath is the ritual where the bride and the groom are standing on the either sides of the antarpath keeping the varmala that is flower garleands in their hands after magalashtaka is performed the bride and the groom put the garlands in each other’s neck as the symbol of acceptance towards each other.
The next and the most important ritual in the wedding is Kanydan. Daan means the donation and kanya is daughter. This ritual made a lot of chaos in the meantime that is the daughter a thing to donate but the meaning behind this ritual is that the father gives the hand of his daughter in the groom’s hand with all the love care and the respect, this gives this bride the sense of responsibility that she need to take care of his family as she uses to take care of her own. The father prays for the good, happy and successful marriage of both the bride and the groom.
Lajjahoma is the next important step in which the Sacred fire is prayed the promises given by the bride and groom to each other in presence of fire are said to be purest. The Mangalsutra and the jodvi are given to the bride by the groom as the symbol of marriage. After lajjahoma the saptapadi widhi is done Saptapadi is the next important sept as bride and the groom give 7 sacred promises to each other in the presence of the holy fire. All the 7 promises given but the bride and groom to each other the wedding is said to be completed
Post Marriage Rituals
The post wedding Rituals the Griha Pravesh, lakshmi poojan and the satyanarayan poojn
The first ritual after the wedding is griha pravesh the bride and the groom take the name of each other in a poetry and the bride pusses the pot full of grains into the house which means the welcome of new bride will bring the peace, and wealth in the houseAfter the lakshmipoojan and the satyanarayan puja is done as the newlywed couple perform the pooja of lord Narayan and lakshmi for their happy and blissful marriage.
The Conclusion
The weddings in Maharashtra are filled with colours and the joy. there is the meaning and the reason behind every ritual. As the person from today’s generation we all have the habit to judge the rituals and customs which came to us after generations. Instead of judging those we should learn to understand the season behind those and try what’s new and good in it and also try to cancel out what of not beneficial for us. Not all the old customs as bad
References
Interview with the religious pandit from Guhaghar konkan
https://www.perniaspopupshop.com/wedding-encyclopedia/maharashtra/wedding#:~:text=Many%20other%20key%20elements%20in,%2C%20fertility%2C%20and%20good%20fortune.
https://www.weddingbazaar.com/blog/marathi-wedding-rituals#:~:text=Ganpati%20Puja%2C%20Devdevak%20and%20Punyavachan&text=The%20wedding%20day%20commences%20with,mandap%20to%20bless%20the%20couple.
Well informative article. Describing the rituals in depth