I’ve attempted to capture the meaning and importance of South Indian wedding rituals in general.
1 Pandakkaal Muhurtham :
Typical of any Hindu ritual, Lord Ganesha’s blessings are sought at the beginning of the wedding.
A bamboo stick gets tied up with a Saffron cloth, flowers and Mango leaves. Tumeric, Sandalwood Paste and Vermilon are applied on to it.
Planting the bamboo stick on the ground symbolises the strong foundation with which, the couple will start their holy matrimony.
2 Vratham :
The Bride and the Groom along with their Parents perform different types of Vrathams (Prayer/Penance)
A Kaapu (protective thread) gets tied during the Vratham and this is when Devas (Angels) numbering 30 crores (1 crore = 10 million) come together to bless and protect the Bride & the Groom.
- "Prjaapatya Vratham" seeks the blessings of MahaVishnu.
- "Soumya Vratham" seeks desired behavior/character like having a "Steady shoulder on one’s head", Integrity, Education, Spiritual inclination etc
- "Aaagnayya Vratham" seeks Blissfull domestic life, good kids etc.,
- "Vaisvadeva Vratham" seeks the blessings and company of Sri AnnaPoorani so that the couple, their friends and family will have a "complete life" with no shortcomings
- Navadhaana (9 types of grains) are offered to the Awoshada Angels so that the couple will live for 100 years!
3 Janavaasam :
The Groom, supposedly equivalent to MahaVishnu( well, atleast for a day 
) gets special treatment and gets taken to the Mandabam along with close relatives ( IshtaMitra Bandhus). I was surprised when Ramya’s uncle & aunt, came to pick me up on a while colored Toyota driven by a smart dressed Chauffeur.
4 Engagement :
5 Kaasi Yatrai
6 Maalai Maathal
7 Woonjal = Swing
To be continued >>
Muthu this is interesting.
Just one thing, please dont generalise saying “south indian wedding rituals”. I think this is just the tamil (or say non malayali coz malayali brahmins are namboothiris not iyers) brahmin wedding rituals.
Even in malayali weddings, the rituals differ with communities.
Hey Umesh, Thanks for the feedback. The blog entry title has “Tamil” mentioned in it. And yea, the rituals drastically vary even among Tamilian weddings also. Guess. get more specific by stating that these rituals belong to the Tamil Pillai + Iyer styles. Ok?
Cool
May be i will try to post the Malayali + “Valluvanadan Nair” Wedding rituals, one day if i have any luck to get to know about it
Hi Muthu!
Thanks for responding. I am annoyed these days by so called westernised patterns of Marraiges. There are certain things which you must not ignore in our culture. But Ia m happy that you are posting about the south indian Tamil marriages.But all the rituals u mentioned here mostly fit to tamil iyer/iyengars alone.
Muthu!
I am sorry for forgetting to add onething I am going to get married in January. Probably i will try to put some pics after marriage
Meena, I will updating this post with other rituals soon.
thanks very much, dis helped me in my assignment.
Muthu, It may be better if you order the events based on the sequence – for example Janavasam should probably be the first one, before Vratham, Pandhakkaal Muhurtham etc..