Panch Kalp Of Telugu Wedding

A bevy of ladies draped in vibrant Kanjeevaram sarees laden with golden jewellery, the fragrance of their immaculate white gajras floating through the vicinity and the melody of Nadaswaram lingering in the air. That’s how restrictive our imagination gets which it comes to South Indian weddings, but there’s plenty more to it. Wedding Affair delves deeper into the peculiarities and intricacies of Telugu weddings, a part of the sheeny South Indian community.

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Unlike North Indian weddings, South Indian weddings are not so glitzy and gaudy but nonetheless affluent. A South Indian wedding is simplistic, elegant yet opulent in its rites and rituals. Indians from the Southern region are known for embracing their customs and traditions in everyday life and the same can be observed at their weddings. Telugu weddings are certainly no different. A traditional Telugu wedding - Teluginti Pelli of the 19th century with all its ceremonies and customs would go on upto sixteen days. In the modern times however, the essence of those olden days wedding rites and rituals has been squeezed into two days or maybe a few more but its importance still remains intact. Telugus are firm believers of the fact that marriage is not a societal obligation but the union of two families and hence the lively partake of the two families earns the prime position. This makes a Telugu Wedding extravaganza a spectacle of admiration. The modest decor made out of the colourful flowers, mango leaves and decorative powders works well in adding more charm to the Telugu weddings.

The down to earth ceremonies are all the way captivating for their meaningful and symbolical rituals. One of the distinctive features of the Telugu weddings is the way the bride makes an entrance. A Telugu bride is carried to the mandap in a pelli butta (bamboo basket), lifted by her maternal uncles on their shoulders. The Telugus consider the bride to be an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and hence she must not step onto the floor. The pelli butta is often carved out in the shape of a lotus flower which has been Goddess Lakshmi’s eternal seat.

The decked-up bride seated on the embellished lotus flower seems almost as if Goddess Lakshmi herself has descended down on earth. The custom of Mangalasnaanam