a typical Bengali Wedding of Countryman of Red Soil of Bengal

Bankura & Purulia, two district of Bengal, India. Formerly a part of Jangle Mahal district of Banga (undivided Bengal, i.e. Bengal, Bihar and Orisa) in the British East India Company regime, these two dry area of red soil are bearing same culture from the ancient age. The culture may differs little bit from other part of Bengal. Here I am showing some rituals of wedding in village of Bankura & Purulia.

Introduction of Bengali Wedding

I decorate this picture as a brief introduction of Bengali Wedding. The bride, the groom and a traditional bengali ritual are showing in the picture in a different manner.

 Traditional things related with a wedding is showing in a different way. A chess board is taken as background.

 Traditional Musical group is hired from the village. All with white uniform, in the backdrop of typical village area, this picture is showing an old days photograph of wedding ceremony.

A typical area, called 'chadnatalaa' is prepared for the rituals of wedding. The 'chadnatalaa' is made of four bamboo stick covered with dry yellow 'dhaan' (rice) plant. Four pots made of burnt clay are placed at four corners of 'chadnatala'. A married woman goes to collect the pots from a potter's house with her relative and music group, taking a big vessel made of bamboo covered with the 'sacred Banarasi Saree' (the dress which would be used in the time of wedding) on her head . The ritual is called 'Aaikhari'. Every married woman wants to take the lead role in 'Aaikhari', but generally the lucky lady is chosen from the closest relatives of bride/groom. This picture is showing that traditional ritual.

 Collecting holy water is shown here. Some married women collect the water preferably from a river (or a pond if river is not in the nearby area) with the holy sound of 'sankh' and 'ulu' (typical sound from the mouth of woman, different from whisling). After collecting, it is covered by the 'sacred Banarasi Saree' (the dress which would be used in the time of wedding). This water is used for the bath of bride/groom on his/her special day.

 

 Typical Bengali Groom, wiring Dhoti and Punjabi of Hoogly district, white 'topor' on head, garland of typical white 'Rajnigandha' flower of Bengal and red rose. He is coming out from his house to go to the house of bride to marry her.

 Typical Bengali Bride of village.  The bride is under fasting from the morning. Her face is somehow painted and decorated by her relatives who are not professionals in this job.

 Traditionally Bengali wedding happens in midnight. There are direct hard lights on the face of the bride & groom from one side, so that the wedding photographer can take photo of faces of bride and groom in a frame because that is a traditional pose to collect in wedding album. I was present there and thought that Bridal body language and expression was much more attractive because at their face there are several feelings at that day. Expectation and joy of new life, fear of unknown family, everything can be seen in her behaviour, not of a groom. So I choose this angle to highlight her face. Light was not in my control, movements of bride groom and lots of their relatives either for the rituals or to see the live wedding were not in my control. But I could manage to capture this photograph of exchanging garlands of flowers. As a ritual, garlands of  'Aakando' flower of violet colour are exchanged between bride and groom thrice. As this flower is very small, garlands of white 'Rajnigandha' is exchanged for taking picture and collect in their wedding album.

As I told, the bridal body language is priceless in the evening. This picture is trying to show that.

I have chosen this picture because of its traditional uniqueness of any Bengali wedding. The groom is taking oath to bear everything of his bride for lifelong, the happiness, the sadness, the rise and fall of the life. This is something special for anybody.

 Above two pictures are of 'Sindur Daan'. Red Colour is the colour of powder type material, called 'Sindur'. In Hindu relegion, that identifies married woman. Most probably, in fifteenth century when India was attacked by Islamic force of mid asia, to protect the married women from them, the use of sindur was started. Afterwords it became the rituals of hindu marriage. when a man give that sindur on the head of a lady, that means they are married from that time. From then onwords the lady takes that on her head everyday till the death of her husband. The dots on the forhead has a mystical meaning. It represents the third eye of the spiritual sight, which the regular eye cannot see. Here groom is giving sindur on the head of bride by a coin made of silver. The second picture except 'sindur' is black and white to enhance the feelings of red clour of 'sindur'.

 Picture of a just married couple. As 'sindur' is considered as most sacred thing for a married woman, the red colour of that is highlighted.

'Laajhom', another traditional ritual of wedding. 'Laaj' means white 'khoi' (puffed 'dhaan', made by heating sand in a pot, and then throwing in grains of rice.) Preparation of 'khoi' is done at groom's house in the morning of the wedding day. Those 'khoi' is kept on a wooden 'Kulaa' firmly hold by bride and supported by groom from the back of the bride. Then they slowly move the 'kulaa' to through all the 'khoi' to sacred fire.

 Some sanskrit sloka are chanted by bride and groom holding each other's hand passionately.

Welcome Ceremony of the bride in her new family. Her mother-in-law is welcoming her by a plate consists of sacred light of 'diya' (small clay lamps), 'dhaan' (rice), raw rice, various seeds, sandalwoods, 'sindur', sankh, sacred leaf, cow dung etc. After that she has to hold a living 'chyang' fish (Bengalis are crazy about fish) on her one hand. This fish is selected traditionally because this jumps tremendously and if you can catch this fish you can catch any fish in your hand. After that a kalas (made of clay or brush, used to keep water), full of water is kept on her lap. She puts it on the floor by the help of her all sister-in-laws.

 Another ritual of welcomeing ceremony of the bride. A 'pai' (typical pot to measure rice in earlier age) full of 'dhaan' (rice) is kept on her head by her mother-in-law and the her husband would hold it. He then continuaously throws some 'dhaan' from that pot to the floor and walk to the sacred place of family God. Then the groom takes the pot and keeps it in front of the God. The bride swipes the thrown dhaan and keeps those in a corner of room. The significance is that the new bride comes in the house with good luck so that there would not be any scarecity of food no more for that family. 'Dhaan' (rice, the main food of Bengal) would be so excess that in time of walking it would fall from your vessel.

The picture is telling the story. This is a game played by bride, groom and all family members. Bride and groom move around the 'chaadnaatalaa' for some odd numbers of time, i.e. seven or nine. First, groom comes forword and bride follows him. Their dresses are tied by a knot. Groom uncover the clay pot one by one and bride cover them. In between this small time the family members hide the cover named 'saraa' and bride has to find it. After all round same game is played by keeping bride forword and groom following her. This game is to mix the bride in the family in a casual and sportingly way.

 The reception evening in the house of the groom. All relatives and friends of the family of groom are invited. They are also keen to see the new bride so that they can compare and whisper in coming some days.

This is the evening of photosuit with the family members to keep it in their album. This picture is not taken by me, but edited by me.

Bride and groom at that evening. This is their special evening. Though the marriage is one and half days old, they have no permission to live with each other. From this evening they can live together and start their own dream life.