For the Sindhi community,
the wedding day is very sacred and the ambience very intense due
to the sacredness of the holy matrimonial rituals about to take
place. As per the community’s culture, on the morning, the
bride's sister, the sister-in-law and a young male child go to
the groom's home in a decorated car carrying muras (money, sweets,
misri and a coconut). The bride's trousseau is left in the groom's
house and the bride's sister or the sister-in-law performs ‘Sanathan
Dharam Pooja’. This matrimonial ritual in Sindhis is small
whereby cosmetics are applied on the face of the groom and his
mother.
The priest puts a red dupatta on the groom and the groom then
proceeds to the bride's home. At the bride’s house the hands
are tied together with the sacred thread or mouli. Some money
and a dried date are placed between their palms before their hands
are tied. This signifies that the matrimonial alliance, which
was entered into earlier (Kacchi Misri), is now to be fulfilled.
After the chanting of mantras the couple and their relatives leave
for the wedding venue where the actual tying of the matrimonial
knot will take place.
In the Sindhi weddings, it is customary for the couple to take
only four parikramas (circumvention’s) around the sacred
fire. This is very unlike in the Indian community, where seven
parikramas are taken. The bride leads in the first three and the
groom in the last. After the fourth parikrama, the bride has to
sit on the left of her husband. The holy matrimonial alliance
is now complete.
As mentioned earlier the Sindhi community is very extravagant
and thus it is time for the ‘Satavaro’. This again
is very similar to the reception of the Indian community. The
Sindhi community normally hosts the reception on the same day
as the wedding. This celebration is for the family, friends and
well-wishers to bless the matrimonial alliance of the newly weds
by showering gifts on the couple. The ‘Satavaro’ is
the most sought out ceremony in the matrimonial alliance as both
the families and relatives in the Sindhi community can enjoy the
food and drink to their hearts content.
Once the reception is over and the bride is taken to her groom’s
house, ‘Dattar’, a Sindhi matrimonial ritual typical
only to the community, is performed. The groom's family brings
two kilograms of salt in a steel parat or platter. The hands of
the bridal couple are untied and the mouli or sacred thread and
the dried date are placed in the pujasthan (shrine). The Sindhi
matrimonial alliance, although complete, proceeds further with
the husband being the first to place some money and a gift in
the salt for his wife as a blessing for a healthy lineage and
a happy married life. Keeping up with the Sindhi community culture
the bride fills her hands with as much salt as they can hold and
slowly showers the same into her husband's hands. This salt is
exchanged three times. The next person to perform this ritual
with the bride will be her father-in-law, followed by her mother-in-law
and then one by one each person from the groom's family.
This ceremony wards off all evil and means the close of the Sindhi
matrimonial alliance.
