Sahithi's Adventures

The Engagement

The day of the engagement dawned brightly, reflecting the mood of the family. The elderly women were engaged in preparing the dishes required while the men were busy decorating the house and other things. The young women were busy with the bride cracking jokes as they made her ready. The children were running here and there picking up a snack or two from their mothers as they passed by playfully. There was a festive mood all around.

Sahithi and a few other women in their twenties had been given the task of preparing the bride. Now, this is not as easy as it seems, as there are a lot of things involved. The first was to beautify the bride. In the days when there were no beauty parlours, it was an uphill task, or so Sahithi thought. She was quickly proved wrong by the other females, who transformed the bride into a gorgeous lady in no time. How did they manage it?

It started with the bride’s shower. Komali was made to sit on a stool with nothing but a towel round her body while she was surrounded by females of her age. The doors to that particular part of the house had been barred and a few women had been posted in strategic locations to ensure that no males entered that area. Some were even standing guard over the roof tops looking for any men who might be peeping from above. Once the all clear signal was given, the beautification started.

The girl’s hair was washed thoroughly with kunkudukaya rasam. Once it was done, Komali was asked to take off the towel she had wrapped. She blushed, not making an effort to remove the only piece of clothing on her body.

“Look how she blushes!” the girls joked. “Will you take it off or shall we do it?” Komali looked at them with a quizzical look. “Why?”

“To glorify your assets for your husband dear!” Komali blushed again and hit the girl on her hand. “You are becoming shameless day by day!”

“God! Please give some sense to this girl or her husband will think we didn’t teach her anything!” she said, rolling her eyes dramatically, making everyone laugh. They heard a voice, “Make it fast children! You can’t block that area for hours!” it scolded them.

“See? We are getting scolded now because of you. Come on, child, take it off!” she said, mimicking the old lady who had admonished them, bringing another round of laughter from the remaining girls.

“Ah! These children never improve! Always laughing and doing nothing!” another girl did an exact imitation of the elderly lady. Finally, Sahithi stepped forward and said something in Komali’s ear, after which the latter removed the piece of clothing from her body, baring her assets to the whole world, which was the girls around her and above her on the roof tops.

Two of the girls took turmeric paste and applied it to her hands while two others took care of her legs. Another applied it to her face while a sixth one catered to her back. Once they had applied the turmeric paste thoroughly and washed it off, they followed it with sandalwood paste, yellow gram paste, also called sunni pindi, finally finishing off by scrubbing the body with the left over pulp of the **kunkudukayalu. Komali’s body glowed with a freshness and health that no beauty parlour could achieve.

She was then helped to drape a gorgeous ***Kanchi silk saree, making her look like an angel. The finishing touches were given by drying her hair using dhoop sticks; kajal was applied to her eyes, with a beautiful, perfectly round bindi on her forehead. The image was enhanced even further by the various pieces of jewellery that added to the grace and divine beauty of the young woman who was going to enter into holy matrimony very soon.

Sahithi marvelled at the goddess like Komali sitting before her smiling shyly. An ordinary girl had been transformed into a woman she almost didn’t recognise. She blew a flying kiss at her, afraid that if she kissed her on the cheeks, the glow would be lost.

“Oh, my bava (brother-in-law) will simply tie the knot here only if he sees you like this, Komali! You are so beautiful!” Komali blushed shyly at all the teasing.

“It seems the Groom’s side has arrived!” said a girl who peeped from the room at the commotion in the hall. It was indeed filled with the guests who had been given a warm welcome by the bride’s side. They were seated comfortably while the refreshments were being served to them. The purohits on both sides were doing their best to add to the joy with their witty remarks and professional demeanour. The purohit on the girl’s side spoke first.

“Sir, when do you want to have the marriage?” the groom’s father didn’t even pause in his reply.

“Next month.” the purohit turned to the bride’s father.

“Sir, is that fine for you?”

“Yes.” Both the purohits consulted their almanacs and made some calculations. Then they compared their results and talked for a bit, making more calculations, sometimes shaking their heads and turning a fresh page to make fresh calculations. The whole thing was increasing the tension on both sides, which perhaps was what the purohits wanted. Finally, after a lot of calculations and re-calibrations, the purohits seemed to have come to a consensus and one of them broke the news.

“Sir, there is a divine ***muhurtam on 25th of next month at 4.26 am. It is a very rare muhurtam that you should not miss. The next muhurtam is another six months away.”

“But that gives us only 15 days to prepare.” The groom’s father smiled.

“Don’t worry bavagaru (brother-in-law). We will do the shopping first. Buy the clothes and jewellery first. Other things can be done later. It will save us a lot of time.”

“As you wish, bavagaru,” Komali’s father replied. It will indeed save them a lot of trouble and time. “Pantulu garu(purohit ji) fix this muhurtham.”

“Subhasya seeghram!” the purohits then spent the next half an hour drafting the Lagna patrika, which was the official document that declared the time, date and venue of the marriage. Finally, they read it to both sides, which was approved.

“Please exchange Tambulam!” Tambulam referred to the clothes, fruits, jewellery, turmeric, kumkum, betel leaves with betel nuts that were presented to the other side on a large plate. The bride’s father had also given another plate full of cloth bags.

“Inti kinda, mariyu aadapaduchu lanchanam bavagaru!” he said. (dowry and the share of dowry given to the groom’s sister). It brought a smile on the face of the groom’s father. He received it gladly and gave it to the groom for safe keeping.

It was already midday and both sides adjourned for lunch, which was a pleasant one indeed. After all, when one’s wishes are fulfilled so nicely, what is there to feel bad about? The groom’s side had received the dowry, the bride’s side had confirmed the marriage, the purohits had got their dakshina – the fees for marriage. Everyone had a reason to be happy.

Glossary:

Kunkudukayalu: a kind of dry, bitter tasting fruit that is used for washing hair. The dried fruit is crushed with a stone and the resulting pulp is put in warm water and mixed thoroughly, producing a thick frothing liquid which is then poured on the head, slowly scrubbing the hair. The pulp is used to scrub the body. It effectively cleans all dandruff and other germs on the body.

Kanchi silk: also called Kanchipuram silk or Kanjeevaram silk. It is famous for the exquisite hand-woven silk sarees which are in great demand. These are considered the best attire for functions like marriage, etc.

Muhurtham: an auspicious moment fixed for any kind of ceremony or function. It is fixed after several calculations based on the person’s horoscope depending on the occasion.