Gnanam, a Hindu garland-maker

Author: Mary Ann Hamilton, Getting Married project

Getting Married: As maker of the beautiful garlands which are a central element in Hindu weddings, Gnanam Murthukrishnam plays an important part in making weddings in the Sydney Hindu community the festive and joyful events that they are.

The importance of a well-pleated sari!
During her 30 years living in Australia, Gnanam Murthukrishnam has helped many families to prepare for the weddings of their children. The fresh flower garlands that she makes are an essential part of the Hindu wedding ceremony, as is her skill at pleating a wedding sari properly!

(Gnanam) Many people don’t know how put on a sari properly. I learned all my tricks from a close friend who was an air hostess in India in 1968. Dressing properly in the wedding sari is very important!

The trick is, as Gnanam advises, to accommodate the individual tummy when pleating!

Hindu marriage
In India, Hindu marriages are traditionally arranged between families, although today this is often no longer the case. The rituals and events involved in a wedding celebration vary throughout the different regions of India and between the different castes. Gnanam related the events that traditionally take place in a South Indian wedding of the Brahmin caste, the Indian priestly hereditary caste.

Preparing for the wedding
The days leading up to the wedding are busy with various pre-wedding ceremonies and visits, including a formal visit to the bride by the groom and his family. This is the day on which the groom’s family gives the bride her wedding sari and jewellery. The sari is always red which is an auspicious colour in Indian culture. The jewellery set includes the Mangal sutra, an elaborate gold necklace.

Turmeric days are held at the bride and the groom’s homes and offer the opportunity for family and friends to celebrate the forthcoming wedding. Traditionally only the girl would have a special day set aside where mehndi or henna designs are painted on her hands and sometimes her feet by friends. This day is full of cooking, eating, singing and dancing and is a really lively celebration of the girl’s forthcoming marriage. These days it has become fashionable for young men to have a mehndi celebration as well.

The wedding ceremony
The wedding begins with lengthy puja ceremonies. These are Hindu religious ceremonies, where prayers for the groom and the bride and their marriage are offered by the priest conducting the wedding. After this the couple sit together under the wedding mandapam, a decorative canopy.

To the accompaniment of loud drumming, intended to mask bad words and intentions of anyone who may oppose the marriage, the groom ties the Mangal sutra around the girl’s neck. This necklace is like the ring in a western marriage and indicates the permanence of the marriage union. It is knotted three times, twice by the husband, once by the bride’s sister-in-law.

The boy’s sister plays a very important part in the wedding ceremony. During the ceremony she carries a lamp with which she symbolically welcomes the bride, and she also puts the third knot in the Mangal sutra… In the old days if anything went wrong in the marriage the sister-in-law was responsible… The bride could not go back to her father’s home after she was married….

The next important part of the ceremony happens when the couple walk three times around a small fire lit by the priest. They sit and the girl places her foot on a special stone so that the groom can fit a small ring onto her toe. The couple exchange flower garlands. The fire is the witness to the marriage and the stone represents the strong foundation on which the marriage is made.

When these ceremonies are completed the bride and groom are embraced by their family members who tie half sovereign pieces around the bride’s head. These are later tied to the Mangal sutra and kept.

Wedding garland sellers

Beginning married life
After the marriage ceremony the girl traditionally visits her father’s home, and the groom his, while they await the appropriate time for the imminent beginning of their life together. Astrology is used to determine a suitable date for the couple to spend their first night together.

It must be an auspicious day, the conception of the first child must be a very auspicious occasion. The first night has to occur within a month of the wedding… This is all planned out in consultation with the astrologer long before the wedding takes place.

On that first night the marriage bed is decorated with rose petals and jasmine. A bed of roses that will hopefully last forever.

Indian weddings in Australia
Indian Hindu weddings in Australia have changed somewhat over the 30 years Gnanam has been here. These variations are mainly aimed at shortening the very lengthy ceremonies, and accommodating the guests while the numerous and intricate parts of the proceedings are undertaken by the bride and groom. But since all of the observances described above form the core of the Hindu marriage ceremony, they are retained and witnessed by the couple’s family and friends in Hindu weddings in Australia.

Today, after three decades in Australia, Gnanam still treasures her role in Australian Hindu wedding celebrations in Sydney.

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