Banias And Their Marriage Rituals

People spend their whole lives looking for a perfect match. The procedure of finding a suitable bride or groom is almost same in every culture with the categorization of it being a love or an arranged marriage. Marriages are made in heaven, but are given a final nod by our parents. In almost all Indian families parents are the final decision makers for choosing the life partner for their children.

Though, the cultures and traditions of all the marriages resolve the purpose of celebrating the marriage with great pop and gaiety and to bless the couple for their successful married life. The marriage ceremonies and rituals vary according to the traditions and cultural background of a particular community. There are few communities in the country which are present all over the world and are defined according to their business and work culture. One of such communities is Banias, they are the people involved in the business like banking, money- lending, or the people dealing with the selling of products like, grains, groceries, spices and oil. Banias can be the people with sir names like Aggarwal, Agarwal, Baniya, Bani, Agarwal Marwari, Banikar, Oswal, Marwari, Mahajan, etc.

These people are popularly known as the thrifty or the penny- pinching community, but their marriages are celebrated at a very large scale with lavishing food and arrangements. Most of the Jains and Hindus constitute the Bania community. The people who follow Hindu religion are called Meshris, where others following Jain culture are called Shravaks. The Banias marriage date are supposed to be fixed by the parents during the time period of Kartika Sud i.e. 11th of October- November to Asarba Sud, i.e. 11th of June- July.

The marriage ceremony in a Bania family starts with the worship of Ganpati ji in both the houses of the bride and the groom, which is performed few days before the actual day of marriage. The ganpati pooja is organized to seek blessing from the god and the ceremony is called Mandav. The decoration of the marriage Mandav is done after the prayers. Then the ladies of the house go to a potters place, signing and dancing, as a procession, there they sprinkle sandalwood powder and flowers on the potters wheel, after which they bring earthen pots back home to be, used in the marriage ceremonies.

A day before the marriage both the Bania families, carry gifts and wedding dress for bride and groom to each others house respectively. The bride and the groom do not participate in these rituals. The wedding dress of the bania bride and the groom is usually a lehnga- choli or saree and a sherwani or kurta pyjami respectively.

On the day of the wedding, both the houses are decorated with all lights and flowers, all the family members, friends and distant relatives are invited to attend the wedding ceremony. To begin with the marriage day ceremonies, balls of cow dung ashes are thrown in all the four directions, meanwhile the brides mother takes seven circular rounds around the groom holding curd in two earthen pots, which afterwards are crushed by the right foot of the groom allowing him to enter the Brides house or the place of marriage.
Then the mother of the Bania bride washes the feet of the groom with honey, curd, sugar, milk and ghee to add the purifying factor. After this, the actual marriage ceremonies take place of Kanyadan (a ritual where the parents gives away the responsibility of their daughter to the groom for the lifetime), phere (seven circles around the sacred fire to promise each others support in all walks of life), after which the groom applies sindur or read powder on the forehead of the groom and then makes her wear a mangalsutra, marking the proof of a married women. All this leads to the completion of the Bania marriage ceremonies, which are more or less like a Hindu marriage.

Then the Bidayi ceremony takes place, a part of which the Bania bride moves away to the grooms house to lead a happy married life. The carriage or the car carrying the bride towards her new house is made to crush a coconut to mark a pure and happy beginning of their married life.

Few useful links:
http://www.jeevansathi.com/
http://www.jeevansathi.com/matrimonials/bania-matrimonial/

Patola Silk Sarees Look Different

The Patola Silk Sarees are one of the finest varieties of handloom silk saree from Gujrat. Patola means queen of silks and the sarees are woven with great clarity and precision making it well known all over the world for highly delicate patterns. Depending on the complexity of design and length, a patola saree may take 4-6 months for completion. Woven by master weavers on a special type of silk called patola silk, geometric designs with folk motifs and flaming colors are characteristic features of patola sarees. Each patola saree reflects the skill and imagination of the weaver and is exclusive by nature. Patan and Surat are famous destinations of patola sarees.

Way back in 12 th century some salvi weavers from Karnataka and Maharashtra arrived at Patan and with the patronage from royal and affluent people of Gujrat the art of patola sarees flourished. The sarees became symbol of status and part of wedding brocade dresses and from then on are regarded as best pure silk bridal wear. Depending on the pattern of weaving there are two types of patola sarees – Rajokot patola and Patan patola. While the Rajkot sarees are single ikkat and vertically resist dyed, the Patan variety is double ikkat pattern and horizontally resist dyed. The double ikkat type of weaving is perhaps the most intricate type of textile weaving in the whole world. Both sides of the saree have the same design and can be draped in either way making it unique combination of art silk sarees and printed silk saris.

Simple traditional handlooms are used for weaving and the dyes are natural colors, extracted from vegetable. Animals, flowers, human figures and birds give the basic design. Nowadays chemical dyes are also used to make some geometrical designs. Some ikat sarees are enriched with kundan and zardosi sequins for special occasions. The typical feature of the fabric is the brocade like heavy texture. The pallavs or anchals are elaborate and the dazzling borders are adorned with warm colors and rich motifs.

The double ikat sarees with motifs of parrots, flowers, elephants and dancing figures are primarily used by Jains and Hindus as wedding brocade dresses. Geometric and floral designs are preferred by Muslim communities like Vora as they regard it best pure silk bridal wear. Plain dark colored body with motifs of women and bird are special variety of patola sarees cherished by Maharashtrian Brahmins and known as Nari Kunj.

Patola sarees have evolved from the days of Sultanate and royals and confinement of Gujrat to be acclaimed as one of the finest piece of fabric and work of art that is a treasure collection especially for women all over the world. Handloom silk saree and khadi silk apparels from India has their own appeal to various class of people allover the world as they are used by various fashion designers as base for their work. It was very difficult to get hold of an original patola saree as they are woven by handful of weavers and are not abundant as Indian south silk sarees or printed silk saris. However, with the arrival of various online shopping portals, finding a patola saree has become easier. These portals have huge collection of traditional brocade sarees and special patola sarees with zardosi or kundan sequins and even offer matching blouse piece.

Discover Your Adult Dating Partner – Mutual Hope and Deference

The free online dating websites have realized that by inspiring the message of love, peace, and happiness they can attract many singles to their websites.

The primary objective of every couple in a relationship is to remain pleased and satisfied throughout their life. Contentment grows with love, care and liking of a couple towards each other. On the other hand, happiness in a relationship depends basically on certain factors such as the adult dating couple’s mental wavelength, and mutual dating services trust and respect of one partner towards the other. Now-a-days, many free online dating services providers are assembly effort to infuse something meaningful in their dating websites to enable their members to choose the right partner.er.

Free online dating websites such as datingxpartner.com believes in bringing male and female singles women together at one platform where they can realize true happiness by making the best decision of choosing their dating websites partners. It’s a place where you can find true love in an easy and fun atmosphere without compromising on your privacy. Datingxpartner.com is making every effort to make itself a better place for the couples who want to choose their dates and eventually, convert their relationship into wedding.

The free online dating websites have realized that by inspiring the message of love, peace, and happiness they can attract many singles to their websites. Contrary to the traditional perception that online dating websites cannot be a place where trust and happiness can be fostered, Datingxpartner.com has been responsible for many women seeking men couples who have found their way to the wedding through a path that has offered them fun, trust, respect and harmony.

The most important thing about a relationship is the readiness of a person to enter into it. Although free sex dating websites offer a great chance to find your Mr. Right for free, and through mutual care and trust, you should be completely sure as to why and when you want casual dating services relationship. Choose your partner carefully and achieve peace of mind and happiness through you relationship.

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Bridal Wear For Marathi Bride

Among many communities living in India, Marathi people perhaps have the simplest and least lavish marriage ceremony. Maharashtra exhibits a culture that is a mix of the Aryan and Dravidian culture which means it has influences from north Indian culture and south Indian culture. The wedding ceremony is interwoven in Marathi traditions and rituals known as samskaras or sacraments.

The Marathi wedding usually takes place in the morning because mostly the auspicious time for marriage is in the morning or afternoon in day light. The marriages are conducted within the community and inter-caste marriages are not much appreciated.

Maharashtrians believe in arranged marriages and the parents with their sons/daughters consent look for a suitable match. According to them, marriage is a sacrament where a union binds two individuals into a life long togetherness and makes them one. The community and its members progresses and grows with such alliances. Marriages in India are one of those festive seasons where all the relatives wear traditional dresses to celebrate the new beginning of the future couple. The Indian bride and the groom look exceptional in their wedding attires and are center of attraction.

Maharashtrians brides represent the feminine and true depiction of a Hindu bride. On her wedding day she wears a nine yard long saree which is draped on her in a Marathi style. The color of the saree has to be green banarasi or kanjivaram saree with a thick border in golden embroidery. The hairs are tied neatly into a bun and a bunch of flowers usually jasmine or some other white flower is put over it. The Marathi bride does not wear heavy jewelry but accessorizes with pearls. She wears a pearl chain on her forehead along with a bindi, pearl necklace, a seven pearl earring on each side, a nose ring with nine pearls on the left nostril, green glass bangles known as chzuda is worn along with pearls bangles in hands, gold waist band on the waist and silver toe ring on her feet. After dressing up, it is said the bride becomes an incarnation of Goddess Parvati as she is blessed with marital bliss.

Marathi groom dresses up in dhoti kurta which is usually white in color or preferring other lighter color tone. Like brides saree, groom carries a stole which has thin golden border. The kurta also has self design adding color in his outfit. The head is covered with a Nehru cap or a turban. The basic jewelry that the groom wears is rings in hand fingers and pearl beads around his neck. The groom carries a large cloth on his right shoulder whose one end is tied with brides saree and the ritual of saptapadi is followed. In this ceremony, the couple takes seven rounds around the sacred fire which represents the presence of god.

Both bride and the groom apply mehndi on their palms where the bride applies it on her feet as well. The experience of a Marathi wedding is very different from north or south Indian wedding, but is thoroughly enjoyed by all due to its similar Hindu customs that are followed by all the Hindus in the country.

Great Christmas Gifts For Newlyweds

If you have a friend or friends that have just recently tied the knot, then you know that this will be their first Christmas spent together as a married couple. The holidays are already a special time of year, and being newly married just adds to the enjoyment of the season.

As you and other friends and family have already bought the newlyweds their weddings gifts, no doubt a list filled with household items and kitchenware, perhaps buying them anything similar would be redundant. Instead, there are plenty of other great gifts to get a newly married couple, for this their first Christmas together. Here’s a list of five great Christmas gifts for the happy couple to get you started.

1. Theater/Movie Tickets

Many couples love going to the theater, or at the very least seeing the newest films. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone that doesn’t like to see a movie now and again. If your newlyweds live in New York, then some Broadway tickets are a great gift for them to have a night out on the town. Even local theater tickets are a great gift if they are not in a big city. And if you are budget minded, then a gift certificate to their local movie theater will definitely be something they take advantage of. That, and there is a lot of flexibility for them to use them anytime of the year.

2. Online Movie Subscription

While going out to the movies is always fun, the rise of Internet streaming films and Pay Per View is also a great way to go. Many couples would prefer, especially on a cold winter’s night, to stay tucked up inside, cuddled up in front of the TV watching a movie or favorite TV show. Buying your newlyweds a yearly subscription to a service like Netflix is a great gift that they can appreciate all the way until next Christmas.

3. Restaurant Gift Cards

Going out to a lovely meal is something every couple likes to do. So buying your newlywed friends a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant is a great Christmas gift. The best part is that the cards are so simple to get. Almost every grocery store or pharmacy sells local restaurant gift cards, as well as websites like Restaurants.com. The ease and convenience of the gift for both you and your friends makes this a wonderful gift to give.

4. Couples Massage

With all the stress piled on from the bachelor/bachelorette parties, wedding, reception, honeymoon, and thank you cards, what newlywed couple wouldn’t love a relaxing massage at a lovely spa? And a couples massage is not only a great stress reliever, but also a romantic time to be spent together. After all, it’s times like that that they got married for in the first place.

5. Personalized Gifts

There’s nothing better than getting someone you care about a personalized gift just for them. Gift cards and such are great gifts, but the ones that will always be remembered are the ones specifically for them. Some great, personalized gifts are monogrammed towels/linens, photo albums and frames, and Christmas focused ornaments. All these gifts allow for personalized messages and engravings that the couple will hold dear forever.