Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Telugu Wedding


Telugu Wedding is accomplished strictly in accordance with the age old customs and traditions. For this reason, it even bears resemblance with Hindu and Tamil weddings. The functions and rituals of Telugu Weddings are considered to be complete only when women participate in them. They give utmost respect to women and consider women as an equal to men when it comes to marriages and family life. She is referred to as the ardhangini or the better half of her husband. A decent number of ceremonies and traditions are included in a Telugu wedding. Each of the ceremonies has religious hugeness and bears association with each other. They are partitioned into three gatherings pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding customs.

First and foremost the Muhurtam ritual takes place, in which the auspicious time is decided for conducting the wedding. Next is Pendlikoothuru ritual, wherein oil and turmeric is applied to the bride, after which she is given a bath. After this the Snathakam ritual is observed, as per which a silver thread is worn by the groom. This is followed by the fun filled ritual of Kashi Yatra, as per which the groom pretends to leave for Kashi but he is interrupted by the bride's brother, who promises to give him his sister in the alliance.
On the day of the wedding, the bride and the groom perform the Mangala Snaanam ritual, in which they take holy purifying bath. After the bath, they are anointed with oil and traditional aarti is performed. Following this is Gauri puja, which is done by the bride to seek the blessings of Mother Goddess. After this, the groom performs Ganesh puja in the mandap at the wedding venue, before marriage and requests the Lord to remove all obstacles.

In the mandap, the bride is brought by her maternal uncle. The couple has a curtain between them as the priest recited mantras. After this, the Kanyadaan ritual is performed by the father of the bride. He washes the feet of the groom and gives his daughter to him. The curtain is removed at the time of tying the Mangalsutra ritual.
The groom ties a mangalsutra around the bride's neck with thee knots. After this the couple exchanges garlands and are showered by flowers and yellow colored rice. This is called Kanya Daan Akshata ceremony. Next, the Saptapadi ritual takes place, wherein the couple takes seven rounds and vows around the sacred fire. Subsequently, the groom slips silver toe rings on bride's feet. This ritual is called Sthaalipaakam.

After the wedding ceremonies are over, the bride leaves for her marital house, along with the groom. On reaching the groom's house, the newlywed couple is welcomed by his parents. The bride enters the house for the first time, which is called the Grihapravesh ceremony.






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