Kanyadan
Kanyādāna [1] is a Hindu wedding ritual.[2][1] One possible origin of this tradition can be traced to 15th century stone inscriptions found in Vijayanagara empire in South India.[3] There are different interpretations regarding kanyādān across India (South Asia).The real meaning of kanyādāna is actually Gotradāan(Gotra)
| Part of a series on |
| Hinduism |
|---|
 |
|
|
Origin[]
Kanyādāna [1] is a Hindu wedding ritual dating as far back as the 15th century, as can be evidenced by several stone inscriptions found in the Vijayanagara empire. It is often misunderstood as the girl being given away by her parents to the groom's family. However, the practice historically symbolises giving away the Gotra of the bride and accepting the Gotra of the Groom. Several incidents recorded in these inscriptions show that there was a widespread practice of 'bride price' (a form of dowry where the groom gives money or gifts to the bride),[4] during marriages. To fight the epidemic of bride price, a community group of Brahmins created a social legislation to adopt the marriage system of kanyadana for their community. It was mandated that no money should be paid or received during marriage, with those who did not follow being liable for punishment by the King. The above inscriptions also reinforce that system of social legislations within community groups was widely in practice as against personal laws based on religious scriptures.[3]
Kanyādāna songs[]
In communities where kanyādāna is performed as part of the actual wedding, the ritual is carried out through a variety of kanyādāna songs. These songs may include the parents lamenting the loss of their daughter, as well as regretting their economic sacrifice for the wedding. Other songs focus on the groom, for example comparing him to the "ideal groom", the god Rama, in the epic Ramayana. Importantly, the kanyādān ritual occurs right before the Sindoor ritual (sindurdan).[5]
See also[]
- Vivaah
- Marriage in Hinduism
References[]
- ^ a b c "KANNIKADHANAM | Kanchi Periva Forum". periva.proboards.com. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
- ^ Enslin, Elizabeth. "Imagined Sisters: The Ambiguities of Women’s Poetics and Collective Actions". Selves in Time and Place: Identities, Experience, and History in Nepal. Ed. Debra Skinner, Alfred Pach III, and Dorothy Holland. Lanham; Boulder; New York; Oxford: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 1998 (269-299).
- ^ a b Mahalingam, T.V (1940). Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar. University of Madras. pp. 255-256.
- ^ Dr.B. S. Chandrababu, and Dr.L. Thilagavathi. Woman, Her History and Her Struggle for Emancipation. p. 266.
- ^ Henry, Edward O. "Folk Song Genres and Their Melodies in India: Music Use and Genre Process". Asian Music (Spring-Summer 2000). JSTOR. 20 February 2008.
Further reading[]
- Gutschow, Niels; Michaels, Axel; Bau, Christian (2008). The Girl's Hindu Marriage to the Bel Fruit: Ihi and The Girl's Buddhist Marriage to the Bel Fruit: Ihi in Growing up - Hindu and Buddhist Initiation Ritual among Newar Children in Bhaktapur, Nepal. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, Germany. ISBN 3-447-05752-1. pp. 93–173.
- Marriage in Hinduism
- Newar