The Indian culture is amalgamation of various cultures, each representing different colours of India. Various communities residing in India follow their own rituals and customs when it comes to celebrate a wedding. Impact of regional variations can be clearly seen in the pattern of performing a wedding in India.
The Maharashtrian community is one of those Indian communities which follow the simple way to conduct a wedding. The culture of Maharashtra is a mix of the Aryan and Dravidian culture. The impact of both north Indian and south Indian culture can be clearly seen in the food habits, wedding rituals and other customs. The wedding rituals in Marathi Matrimony are known as sacraments. A wedding in the Marathi community is usually performed during the day time, which is considered as the best time to conduct a marriage.
Like other Indian communities, marriages with other communities or caste are not much appreciated in the Marathi matrimony, and marital alliances are usually fixed with the same community. The Maharashtrians have faith in arranged marriages, where the parents find the perfect match for their children, with their consent. According to the Maharashtrians, marriage binds two souls together not only for one life, but for the coming seven lives. A wedding alliance unites two families, and makes the partners believe in the institution of marriage.
It is believed that such alliances help the community and its members to grow and progress. A matrimonial time in India is celebrated as a festive occasion, when the family members, relatives and friends involved in the wedding get the chance to flaunt their traditional clothes. It is the day for a bride and a groom to look the best of all and be the center of attraction for all.
Wedding Attire for a Marathi Bride
A Marathi bride is an idol of femininity, which very nicely represents the Indian bride. For the wedding day, the Marathi brides wear bottle green nine yard long sari, draped in a typical Marathi style. Generally the bride in Maharashtra wear Paithani sari, which is a Maharashtrian patterned sari, having intricate designs of gold and silver threads, and have beautifully, embroidered borders in golden. Some of the brides in Marathi matrimony also wear green Kanchipuram sari, which give a gorgeous look to the bride.
Hair of the bride is neatly tied to form a bun, which is decorated with the bunch of jasmine flowers. The Marathi brides wear simple jewellery for their wedding. The bottle green wedding attire is beautifully accessorized with strands of pearl. The brides wear thin strands of pearls on their forehead, necklace made up of gold and pearls, and a gold nose ring studded with nine pearls. The earring worn by the bride contains seven pearls
The bride also wears a set of green bangles paired with gold bangles in Marathi matrimony. The bangle set is known as chooda, and is the sign of the marital status of a bride. Beautiful waist band made up of gold, and silver toe ring are also worn by the Marathi brides.
A Marathi groom dons traditional dhoti kurta, preferably white or off-white. The kurta is embroidered, and sometimes has some stone work. A Marathi groom wears gold rings in his fingers, and pearl beads around the neck. A large piece of cloth is kept on the right shoulders of the groom, which is tied to bride’s sari and then the seven steps are taken, when the bride and groom make promises to each other.
The bride and groom also apply designs of henna on their palms as a sign of fertility and prosperity. The rituals and customs followed in Marathi matrimony are quite similar to other Hindu wedding, but the regional impact adds beauty to it.
Rashmi writes on behalf of Jeevansathi.com, which is India’s fastest growing Matrimonial website. Jeevansathi.com helps the users to search corresponding matches from their respective community like Maratha Matrimony, Hindu Matrimonial, Hindi Matrimony from their online matrimonial and matchmaking services.