In INDIA, wedding is celebrated as a very grand occasion with full of lighting and pomp & show. The celebrations of wedding starts one week before the scheduled date of wedding with the arrivals of guests, preparations of sweets and other wedding foods, arrangements for wedding and ends with the last day of reception. People call all there near and dear one’s to attend the marriage and give there valuable blessings to bride and groom for their happy and successful married life. There are lot of events which occur before marriage, these events are “Haldi, mehndi, tel chadhana, tilak, marriage, vidai and at last reception”. These events are called “Rasms” in Indian wedding .

In the event of Haldi, ladies of bride’s family, apply mixture of turmeric on the hands, face and legs of the bride so that she looks more beautiful than other women. In the event of “Mehndi” Henna is applied on the hands and legs of bride as well as other ladies taking part in the marriage. These two events takes place on the side of bride while at side of groom an event name “tel chadhana” takes place. In this event, mustard oil is touched on the forehead, shoulder, knees and toes of the groom. After this event comes the “Tilak” this event is basically attended by the male members of the family but due to changing time ladies have also started to attending this accept the bride as she is restricted from attending this ceremony. After the two parties get ready for marriage this is the 1st big ceremony which takes place in which the peoples of both the sides meet. In this ceremony, the father of the bride along with other members of the family visits the house of groom. There the father of the bride applies a auspicious tilak on the forehead of the groom to confirm that now he is ready to marry his daughter and also that the family has accepted him as their “son-in-law”.

After the father, the brother of bride applies tilak on the forehead of groom as mark of respect and acceptance. After applying tilak, brother offers the groom sweets, clothes, token money etc. All the other member of the family like uncle, cousins etc perform the same function to show loving acceptance of groom in their family. After this the family of groom offers gifts to the family of bride and also sends gifts for bride as token of love. This ceremony usually takes place one month before the marriage but now days it is decided between the two parties when to schedule this event. After this event, the main event comes means the wedding day, all the members of both the family remains busy in the arrangement for the wedding male member’s remains busy in work outside the home like the arrangements of decorations, lighting, tents etc while the women remain busy in household work like arrangements of foods, packing of gifts etc. The whole area where the wedding is to take place is decorated like heaven and in the evening the whole area gives a feeling as if the person is witnessing heaven. The families of bride and groom dress themselves in such a way as if they are some celebrity. The groom is made to sit on a horse with all his near and dear one’s moving ahead him, towards the place where the groom’s family has made arrangements for wedding. The family of grooms expresses their feeling of joy by dancing and moving towards their ultimate destination. When they reach at door where whole arrangement has been done the groom is made to sit there and then a short ceremony known as “Dwar chaar” takes place. In dwar chaar, the father of bride applies tilak on the forehead of groom and offers him some gifts as a mark of respect and acceptance.

After dwar chaar jaimal is the next event in which bride and groom put garlands made of flowers around neck of each other and hence they become married. After jaimal the main event which ties the knot of bride and groom as husband and wife takes place at night time. Where they take 7 vows which are most important in Indian marriages, these 7 vows are as:-

Men:-

You will offer me food and be helpful in every way. I will cherish you and provide welfare and happiness for you and our children.

Women:-

I am responsible for the home and all household responsibilities.

Men:-

Together we will protect our house and children.

Women:-

I will be by your side as your courage and strength. I will rejoice in your happiness. In return, you will love me solely.

Men:-

May we grow wealthy and prosperous and strive for the education of our children. May our children live long.

Women:-

I will love you solely for the rest of my life, as you are my husband. Every other man in my life will be secondary. I vow to remain chaste.

Men:-

You have brought sacredness into my life, and have completed me. May we be blessed with noble and obedient children.

Women:-

I will shower you with joy, from head to toe. I will strive to please you in every way I can.

Men:-

You are my best friend, and staunchest well-wisher. You have come into my life, enriching it. God bless you.

Women:-

I promise to love and cherish you for as long as I live. Your happiness is my happiness, and your sorrow is my sorrow. I will trust and honor you, and will strive to fulfill all your wishes.

Men:-

May you be filled with joy and peace.

Women:-

I will always be by your side.

Men:-

We are now husband and wife, and are one. You are mine and I am yours for eternity.

Women:-

As God is witness, I am now your wife. We will love, honor and cherish each other forever.

After this, the bride and groom take seven rounds around the fire taking the oath of Lord AGNI. After this the groom puts a necklace called “Mangalsutra” around the neck of bride and also applies sindur on the forehead of bride after this they become husband and wife. The next morning 2^nd last event known as “vidae” takes place, In this the bride lefts his house and family and enters the house of groom. The next event is reception and is mostly done so that the guests who were not able to attend the marriage could come and give blessings to bride and groom as token of love.

Raja Kumar