Customs Defining The Authenticity Of Adi Dravida Matrimony

By Author: Ankush Singhal
Total Articles: 173
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Indian culture religiously follows its traditional culture, which gets inherited from one generation to another. Indian wedding is a reflection of the traditions followed in the Indian culture, which includes a lot of rites and rituals and celebrations. Be it a Hindu wedding, Muslim wedding, or Sikh wedding. Each and every religion has one thing in common, the existence of family rituals. Indian society is dominated by Hindu culture, and the elments of a wedding ceremony are written in the ancient Hindu scriptures called Vedas. Wedding in India is not just bonding of a man and a woman, but also their families. A wedding in India is a series of traditional and magical rituals, which have been repeated over the centuries.

Adi Dravida is a minority community in India, which is a part of Hindu community. The major occupations of Adi Dravida include leatherwork, butchering, or removal of rubbish, animal carcasses and waste. Adi Dravida is a population of various castes prevalent over south Asia. They are very strict about their marriage norms and rituals they follow. Since they are minorities in India, they remain very conservative ...
... about their ethos, when it comes to marriage. However, there are quite exceptional cases in which parents give their children the opportunity to find their life partner on their own.

The rituals followed in Adi Dravida Matrimony are similar to that of Hindus, where the rituals and customs start days ahead of the wedding. The difference is totally dependent of the regional variations and the impact of region can be seen in marriages also.

The Adi Dravida matrimony also involve elaborate rituals and customs, that which last for 3-4 days, or even longer. Alike Hindus, the rituals in Adi Dravida matrimony are also divided into pre-wedding, wedding and post-marriage rituals.

Pre-wedding in Adi Dravida Matrimony

The pre-wedding ceremony includes Sagai or engagement ceremony. This engagement ceremony symbolises that the bride and groom make a commitment to get hitched. The bride and grooms are gifted by their in-laws, which include gold jewellery, clothes, sweets and dry fruits.

2-3 Days before wedding, other pre nuptial rituals are conducted, which include Mehendi, Sangeet and Haldi ceremonies.

Wedding Rituals in Adi Dravida Matrimony

• Arrival of the groom

The groom arrive bride’s home with his relatives and friends, who are welcomed and greeted by the bride’s family, and the groom is led to the mandap for wedding rituals.

• Ganesh Pooja

No ritual in Hindus starts without the blessings of Lord Ganesh, so the wedding ceremony begins by offering pooja to Lord Ganesh.

• Arrival of the Bride & Jaimala

In most of the cases, the bride is escorted to the mandap by her sisters and friends and the formalities of Jaimala (Exchanging of flower garlands) are accomplished. This signifies the acceptance of the bride and the groom for each other.

• Kanya Daan

Kanya Dann is the most significant ritual in the Adi Dravida matrimony, alike other Hindu weddings. Bride’s parents give away their daughter to the groom and his family.

• Sindoordaan

The groom puts vermillion in the hair partition of his bride, and ties Mangalsutra around her neck. This makes bride and groom husband and wife for lifetime.

• Phere

Also known as Mangalpheras, during which the bride and groom take the wedding vows. They need to take seven circles around the sacred fire.

• Vidaai

The most emotional time of a wedding ceremony is Vidaai, when the bride leaves her parents house and goes with her husband to start a new life.

Adi Dravida matrimonial is no different than other Hindu matrimonies, where all communities aim towards imparting a happy and blissful married life to the bride and groom.

Rashmi writes on behalf of Jeevansathi.com. Jeevansathi.com helps the users to search matches from their respective community like Brahmin Matrimonial, Bengali matrimonials and find suitable brides and grooms like Christian brides from our online matrimonial services.