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An Indian wedding is full of expressions of rituals and customs. The emotional attachment between the bride and her parents can be easily observed in any Indian marriage epitomized by frequent tears. Tears of joy for their daughter getting married and the tears of sadness of getting separated from her for good.
Two ceremonies where these emotions are at their highest peak are the Kanyadaan and Vidaai. Vidaai is still something involving other members of the family, like brothers, but the primary rite to Kanyadaan remains reserved to the parents. If not the parents then the rite to Kanyadaan resides with the eldest male of the family or someone he appoints to perform this responsibility.
Though Kanyadaan is performed in all forms of Indian marriages by little elongated ceremonies have been observed with Hindu weddings and Arya Samaj weddings. Both these communities believe the groom to be a form of God, a superior being. In Hindu culture the groom is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. they believe their daughter to be personification of Goddess Lakhshmi whom they must hand over to her groom, Lord Vishnu.
The ceremony moves on like this. The father consigns his daughter to the groom, giving him the responsibility to take care of her always. As the rituals of Hastamilap proceeds, Vedic hymns are recited. As the grooms repeat the hymns recited by the priest, the father pours holy water on the palms. These prayers are sung to ask blessing of Kama who is believed to be the Love God in Hindu religion. . By doing so the groom seeks blessing from him in order to perform his duties as a good husband.
During this ceremony the groom takes three vows and gives the bride’s father a promise not to fail his wife in realizing the karma, artha and dharma.
If we look the other way , this ceremony of Kanyadaan symbolizes that girls receives love and protection in her father’s house in her initial years of life and is then entrusted to a man who vows to provide her with same affection and security through out her.
Ironically, we all know how well these vows are followed.
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