Marriage

Author(s): Natubhai Shah
Publisher: UK Jain Academy

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After the completion of Lavan, the first five and the last stanza of the hymn, Anand Sahib, two hymns about the successful completion of the wedding ceremony and the fulfilment of every body's wishes are sung. Then the final Ardas is conducted with the whole congregation standing in prayer. After this, the final reading from Guru Granth Sahib is done, followed by the distribution of the sacred pudding (Parshad) to the bride and groom and to all congregants.
After the completion of the religious part of the ceremony, the parents of the bride garland the couple and ceremonially feed them bits of ladoo sweets. Other relatives follow in giving gifts of money to them. In some gurdwaras, this part of the social ceremony takes place outside the prayer hall.
Some families choose to have a festive langar (food at the gurdwara) which is religiously preferred. Others choose banqueting halls and hotels for lunches, lavish festivities and entertainments to celebrate the wedding
G. Doli/ Send-off
Again this is a cultural aspect of the wedding.
Doli, the sending off of the bride is usually done from the bride's home. This can be very moving as the bride's parents, brothers and sisters and other relatives find it very emotional to see her leaving the family residence for good and to start a new life with her husband and his family. From then on she comes back to parental home as a visiting daughter. Before she gets into the specially decorated car with her husband, she throws behind her handfuls of rice as she begins to walk towards the exit door, a symbol of wishing her parental home plenty and prosperity. There are goodbye hugs and tears as she gets ready for departure while emotional songs are sung about this moment of leaving.
As the car departs, the groom's father may throw handfuls of coins towards people gathered to view the departure and the children usually run to collect them. In India it is usually poor people and children who make a dash for the coins. Workers who help are also rewarded.
The bride's family gathers back into the house, feeling emotions of both sadness at the sending off of their girl and the relief at the successful completion of the wedding day in the family.
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