Long winded wedding rituals

Well, I'm no expert at this since I am not married. But I have seen with great disdain the cumbersome rituals that are a part of Indian weddings.

Weddings are supposed to be fun. But what happens eventually is that the immediate family of the bride and groom have to undergo such a lot of pain that at the end of it all they are quite relieved!

Another problem is that weddings are scheduled at weird times. Why? Because the 'muhurat' was arrived at at that time. Now, it is so difficult to have a wedding at these times. I can find 100 couples who have got married at a 'non muhurat' time who are totally happy and 100 couples who have got married at the 'muhurat' time and are unhappy.

Why then do we worry about the 'muhurat'?

Also, the number and complexity of the wedding rituals is mind boggling. I suspect this trend is a conspiracy of the 'pujari' brethren in order to increase their clout and 'dakshina'!

I remember a cousin sister's wedding. The engagement was the previous day. The 'pujari' made the engagement last about 2 hours. A few of us got together after the engagement and scolded the 'pujari' for this. We threatened him with dire consequences if he made the marriage ceremony last too long.

The next day, the marriage ceremony was wound up in 90 minutes!

Comments