Wedding

Wedding Ceremony
Sakharpuda
Sakharpuda, the engagement ceremony, is held a few days before the wedding. For this ceremony, the groom's parents give the bride a saree as a token of her acceptance in their family. Her arms are adorned with green glass bangles, symbolizing her engagement. She is then given a packet of sakhar puda (sugar) which symbolizes the spreading of sweetness in their lives. Invitation cards are traditionally printed after this ceremony. Days before the wedding, the home is cleaned, painted and decorated. Orange Marigolds, mango leaves and other flowers are made into torans (flower decorations for the door, the rooms in the house etc.)

Kelvan
A couple of days before the wedding, a feast called Kelvan is organized in both the bride's as well as the bridegroom's home. Each side hosts a meal for the entire family gathered in that home. The first occasion is the puja or worship of theKuladevta or the family deity. This ceremony is performed the evening before the wedding, Wang-nischay, or engagement, is confirmed in separate ceremonies held in each home. The women in the family wear glass bangles. Each side then pays obeisance to the respective family patron-deity, kuldevta, in the form of a kuldevta-poojan. Later, the two sides meet and a short engagement ceremony is conducted by the priest, followed by thewang-nischay meal. This meal is not as elaborate as the meal on the wedding day, but is equally lavish. Every Maharashtrian family has such a deity which ties the family to the ancestors or to the village of the family’s origin. During the Puja, eminent ancestors are also venerated with new clothes, flowers and sweets offered before their portraits. Sweets are also sent to the marriage party on the other side.

Haldi
Haldi is yet another custom special to Maharashtrians. The bridegroom and the bride have their own celebrations in their respective homes. Women from each family get together to apply a mixture of turmeric, sandalwood and cream to the face and body of the bridegroom or the bride. The young person to be married then has a ceremonial bath and is not allowed to go out of the home after this ceremony. Haldi is considered a purifier and is an antiseptic substance.

Chuda
Chuda is a ceremony for the bride and her womenfriends to share the fun of wearing green bangles. A bangle man is invited to the home and each woman chooses her own, amidst songs, laughter and jokes.

The bride is given the green glass bangles ceremonially and with her mother’s help, she wears them interspersed with gold, pearl or diamond bangles as per the status of the family. Each community in Maharashtra has its own designs and order of wearing the chuda. Such designs are called Pichchodis, Patlis, Gotes, Bangdi, Phul Bangdi, Tode etc. Pearls are popular in Maharashtra. However, green glass bangles are considered auspicious because green is the color of new life, creativity and rejuvenation. The bride can remove the chuda only a month after the wedding. Married women wear such chudas on all festive or religious occasions

The actual marriage ceremony begins with a Muhurta Patra set up to measure the time before the auspicious moment of the marriage. Drop by drop, the water falling down counts the seconds while the bride, ready and dressed in a yellow or green sari and a half moon painted on her forehead for luck, worships Parvati, the goddess of marital bliss in an anteroom till she is summoned to the dais.
Meanwhile, the would-be-bridegroom is honored by the bride’s parents and various minor sacraments go on. The humorous part here is that the bridegroom, with an umbrella and a cloth pouch, prepares to go on a pilgrimage to Kashi (Varanasi) but is dissuaded by his would-be father-in-law to return and wed his daughter.

At long last, the swastik-marked Antarpat, (white cloth) is held up between the couple. The bride is brought to the dais by her mama or maternal uncle and the mangalashtakas (eight blessings) are recited. When the recitation is over, the cloth is removed amidst a crescendo of shehnais and the bride and groom exchange garlands called varmalas. This is also the ‘darshan’ of a bride and groom for the first time as man and wife. Mangalashtakas are eight stanzas of propitiations to various gods and blessings for the couple. At the end of each stanza, the priests make the couple aware of their new responsibilities as a wedded couple. Some families write these eight stanzas specifically for the couple and set them to music. A mangalsutra is given to the bride by her groom. This is a black bead necklace in gold with a pendant in the center.
After this ceremony, the couple sits down to do thehavan. A holy fire is lit with sacred wood and amidst the chanting of hymns, oblations are offered to the fire as the chief witness of the nuptials. The bridal couple also wears floral or decorative mundavali which dangle around the face. A havan is made in a specific shaped container. It represents the universe. Fire represents energy, power, luster and omnipresence. Because fire consumes everything put into it, it is considered a messenger of the gods and takes all offerings to them. The havan and the seven pheras around the fire as well as the saptapadi or seven steps walked together by the couple complete the legal necessities of a marriage. In these seven steps the couple promise each other loyalty, sharing, auspicious housekeeping, progeny, elder care and generous hospitality.

The marriage is completed with a feast or reception.

The wedding ceremony of a Maharashtrian Hindu, like other Hindus of the land, is interwoven with customs and traditions related to various religious ceremonies known as samskaras or sacraments. They afford an opportunity for the expression of love and affection as well as for festivities. Marriage is a sacrament, which brings about a union of two personalities into one, for the purpose of social proliferation and for the upliftment of the two through mutual co-operation.