Celebration & Meal Go Hand-in-Hand
No wedding ceremony is complete without a grand meal. Most of the time, the meals served are an important reminder of the community and the customs associated with the wedding.
The Kongu Vellalar Gounder community has a rich history as they are known to be the descendants of proud warriors who were engaged in battles during the Chera and Chola reign in South India. They are a group who follow family traditions and take their responsibilities very seriously. They have very interesting age old Tamil wedding traditions, which bring the whole family together and provide great support for the new couple. All traditions and ceremonies followed during the three-day-long wedding instill a sense of close bonding and deep-rooted affection between both families.
Mangala Vaazhthu is a very special wedding song that is recited during all Kongu Vellalar Gounder weddings and is one of the age-old traditional wedding rituals.
The Tamil Kongu Vellalar kalyanam (wedding) is celebrated for three consecutive days. Here we can find a brief about what happens on those three days of the wedding.
Much like the other communities, the Lagna Patrika in Tamil means a traditional marriage invitation card which is given in-person to close relatives. In the earlier days, the wedding used to be conducted only at the bride’s place and hence only close family and community members used to be invited. Traditionally, the invitation cards were distributed by the Kudimagan (citizen) who represents the bride or the groom’s family to extend an invitation on behalf of them.
Once the bride and groom families decide on the marriage they consult their respective family priests to look for an auspicious day for Nichayadhaartham Ritual (Gounder Engagement Rituals). On the selected day, the bridegroom’s family, relatives, and friends go to the bride’s house. During this function, both parties sit opposite to each other and discuss details of the marriage. A plate with flowers mostly strands of jasmine, fruits mostly two bananas with their stem attached, areca nut, and betel leaves are placed between them to start the discussion.
Pre-wedding rites is the next step in Gounder weddings after Sagunam parthal. The traditions followed in a Tamil Gounder wedding is based on the old Sangam way. In marriages which follow the Sangam period, the holy fire or Agni Kundam is not kept and Vedic hymns are not chanted.
Once the Porutham parthal is complete (potential bride and groom’s horoscopes are mutually exchanged, matched and consented), the next pre wedding step is Sagunam Parthal(Looking out for good omens). Gounder weddings give great importance to favourable omens to move forward with the next steps towards the wedding.
The Tamil Gounder community has a series of pre and post-wedding ceremonial rituals in their three day wedding ceremony. Porutham parthal is one of the first steps before moving an alliance forward in a Tamil Gounder wedding.
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