Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s1.90

c7.s1.90

When all the members of a party had gathered and other necessary preparations were finished, the bridegroom started for the bride’s home accompanied by a band and music and a gay riotous crowd intent on making itself cheerful and agreeable. They undertook this journey in their newly polished, covered and decorated conveyances and wore their brightest costumes. Their rows of carriages and horsemen were often recognized by wayside inhabitants by the light of the torches that preceded them at night or the cloud of dust that followed them by day. When they arrived within hail of the bride’s village or town, they were greeted by the bride’s people and conducted to her house. Betel-leaf and sweet drinks were offered to them, and they were taken to the main hall of the building to take rest on rich carpets in cool and beautiful surroundings after a tiresome journey. Meanwhile, finishing touches were being given to the preparations for the wedding. Duar Puja (door worship) and other ceremonies were performed. The mark of the Swastika and other figures were put on the floor; the wedding robe was sent to the bridegroom; clothes, money, and other gifts were kept in readiness for the impending ceremony. At a pre-arranged hour, the blushing bridegroom and the shy maiden appeared on the scene and sat on the newly raised platform within the mandapa. It was the signal for the commencement of the wedding ceremonies. Probably the father of the bride performed a ceremony signifying the formal gift of his daughter to the bridegroom, known as the ceremony of kanyadan. The couple had the hems of their garmetns knotted together by the women to signify their perpetual and inseparable union, this being the ceremony of ‘Ganth’. At the end of these came the final ceremony of the ‘seven steps’ in circumambulation round the sacred fire. The Purohits started the chanting of sacred texts and the womenfolk their wedding songs, while the couple and the bride’s nearest relations were completing their rounds. The final and the eventful step make the bridegroom and the bride husband and wife before God and man in perpetuity.