Jainism dates to 600 B.C. Jains, having shared the subcontinent with Hindus for more than 2,500 years, have developed a strikingly similar marriage tradition.
THE book, Jain Vivaha Vidhi, describes Jain marital practices, but the rituals carried out vary within every Jain community. Regardless of variance in ritual, Jain marriages serve as the couple’s expression of their intent to live together for life and the community’s expression of support.
Pre-Wedding Rituals
Several days before the wedding, the matruka sthapan and kulkar sthapan are held. In the matruka sthapan, heavenly goddesses are invoked by sacred prayers and called upon to take up temporary residence in the bride’s home. This ensures the happiness and fertility of the couple. Kulkar sthapan is a similar ritual for the groom’s home: the seven gods are called upon by prayer and asked to take up temporary residence in his home. This ritual ensures the happiness, fertility and maintenance of family traditions for the couple.
Seven days after the wedding, another ceremony is held to gratefully send off the deities in both homes. In the days before the marriage, the skin of both bride and groom is regularly massaged with perfumed oil, turmeric and other substances to beautify them for the marriage. Pujas for the couple’s well being are also performed in the local temple.
Jain marriages are performed under a mandap. In the days before the wedding, this structure and a vedi (altar for the sacred fire), are made during mandapa-vedi-pratishtha. The mandap is built at the bride’s home although it is often moved to a hired hall for the marriage ceremony itself.
The Wedding Day
Similar to the Hindu traditional bharaat, Jains include a groom’s procession in the wedding festivities. Traditionally the groom would arrive on horseback, but present day processions are normally done in a car until the last hundred metres. The party then walks the rest.
As the procession comes to the marriage hall, the Jain Brahmin conducting the wedding will chant a mantra for the arriving groom. The mantra praises Lord Adinath, the originator of the arts, customs and institutions of humankind.
The bride welcomes the groom with a traditional garland. He then stands on a small stool while the bride’s mother and other ladies welcome him by waving a lamp in front of him and offering him a length of red cloth. The groom then enters the mandap, on his way stepping on two earthenware bowls placed in his path. This guards against evil spirits influencing the ceremony.
The Wedding Ceremony
Inside the mandap, two chairs are placed. The groom enters first and sits on the left-hand chair. The bride then enters, often led by her maternal uncle and sits as well. A series of prayers are then spoken asking for the protection and blessings of the gods.
After the prayers, hasta melap is performed. In this joining ceremony, the Brahmin will place a single cloth garland around the couple’s necks. Following the garlanding, the bride’s parents wash the groom’s feet, wipe them and dress them with flowers. The groom is then given sandalwood paste and other auspicious items to hold. The priest then places the bride’s hand into the groom’s. Linking the two together for life, he will say:
“Aum Arham. O Jiva you are the one with soul. May you two become partners with the same time, mind, karma, shelter, body, action, love, desire, wishes, joy, sorrow, longevity, with the same hunger and thirst. May you have similar progress; may you enjoy the same good things; words, forms, scents, touch, ashrava, bandha, sanvara, nirjara, moksha (effects of karma). May you obtain a lasting relationship and unity by way of this joining of hands.”
After hasta melap, the goddess Lakshmi is honoured in the toran pratishtha ceremony. The priest first gives rice, sandalwood and flowers to the bride’s parents saying, “AUM HRIM, SHREE, NAMO, worshipped by all, respected by all, the most important one. O Goddess, please fulfil our wishes.”
The bride’s parents then throw the mixture on the arch of the mandap, the toran. The couple’s heads are then anointed with holy water as the following prayer is spoken: “AUM ARHAM. You have now occupied these seats. You are together for a noble purpose. May you bind yourselves in an eternal bond. ARHAM AUM”
Toran pratishtha is followed by vedi pratishtha, a prayer in honour of the gods of Kshetras (directions and fields). After Vedi Pratishtha a sacred fire is lit in a small vessel on the vedi (altar). A prayer accompanies this ritual action, called agni sthapan: “AUM HTAM HRIM HROM. I bow to the sacred fire, shining like pure gold, whose big flames radiate the eternal light, energy and virtues, whose vehicle is the goat and who consumes the offerings. O fire god, come and stay in this kunda SWAHA.”
Offerings are then made to the fire God asking him to take the offerings and pass them on to the gods, the nine planets and the heavenly bodies. The offerings, placed into the fire, are ghee, betel nuts and certain grains and seeds.
Following the offerings, the couple’s heads are anointed with water in a ceremony called the first abhisheka. As he anoints the couple the priest says, “AUM ARHAM. You have now occupied these seats. You are together for a noble purpose. May you bind yourselves in an eternal bond. ARHAM AUM”
After this first abhisheka, the lineage’s of the bride and groom are announced in the gotrachar ritual. After the bride and groom state
their lineage’s, the declaration of marriage is read by the priest finishing with, “May these two be granted peace, contentment, prosperity, and wisdom. ARHAM AUM.”
The couple is then given rice, flowers, incense and mithai (sweets) and they in turn offer them to the fire god in a puja.
Gotrachar is proceeded by the four rounds; the couple circles the sacred fire four times. Prior to this, however, the bride’s brother gives them both handfuls of rice that they alternately give to the priest as they pass. The priest offers the rice into the fire. Specific mantras are spoken for each round.
Mantra for the First Round:
“AUM ARHAM. Without beginning is the world”¦is the soul”¦ is time”¦ is attachment. Anger, ego, illusion, greed are associated with the body and different Karmas. There are words, forms, liquids, smells and touches which are desirable or undesirable.
“You have joined each other in front of the Siddha, Kevali, other Gods, Fire, men and women, Rulers, People, teacher, father and mother and other relatives – so please encircle this fire.”
Mantra for the Second Round:
“AUM ARHAM. ‘Illusion Karma’ lasts for a long time. It adheres firmly and cannot be eliminated easily. Twenty-eight types of this Karma include anger, ego, deceit, and greed in different degrees and different time-spans. Other things like feelings associated with mind and body are longer lasting too.
“This love and joining together is also the fruit of your past karma; may it last as long as this world lasts. So please encircle this fire.”
Mantra for the Third Round:
“AUM ARHAM. There are karmas related to feelings of comfort and discomfort, hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, touching – all these could be a good experience or a bad experience. May you have all good health and experience.
“Before the fourth round, kanya dan is performed. In this ritual, the father of the bride offers his daughter to the groom. The priest first gives grains of jav, tal, a small bit of grass and a drop of water to the bride’s father. He then says a mantra, stating first the date, time and place and then the following to the groom: “This bride who is arrayed in the best of clothing, best of jewellery and carrying a fragrant, beautiful garland has come to you. The bride’s father is handing over his beloved daughter to you. Please accept her.”
The grooms says, “I take thee.” The Brahmin then says, “Truly taken. Let there be peace, wealth, comfort and contentment. Let there be happiness.” The priest then recites the wedding vows and the couple accepts them. Following their acceptance, the priest directs the couple to circle the fire. At this point, the groom will say “I take thee,”to the bride and the bride’s father will give the jav, tal, grass and water mixture to the bride and groom. After receiving the mixture from his new father in law, the groom will say, “I have now taken thee.”
After kanya dan, the fire is circled for a fourth and final time.
Mantra for the Fourth Round:
“Attachment to the world is due to Mahoniya, Vedaniya, Nam, Gotra and Ayu Karma (several karma types).
“Inflow of karma actions, bondages and pleasures are inter-related. This is how your joining together is a natural and binding result of your karma.”
After the fourth round, the bride and groom change seats: the groom now on the right, and the bride to his left. The priest then says, “Lord Adinath was married by this same ritual and got happiness. May you be happy.” With this, he sprinkles vakshepa on the couple’s heads. The bride’s father then gives water and tal to the groom with the words, “Please take this.” Ritually, the groom responds with, “I have taken it. I have accepted it.” The water and tal are then taken by the priest and sprinkled on the bride. This entire tradition, from the priests words of Lord Adinath to the sprinkling of the water and tal is called vakshepa.
A second abhisheka ceremony proceeds vakshepa. The priest addresses the couple wishing them well: “O man and wife! Your marriage has taken place by the unavoidable fruit of your previous karmas. It cannot be altered. It cannot be avoided. You have gone through this because of previous karmas. May you obtain unbroken, undisturbed peace, happiness and all-around joy.
“O children! You two have been married. Now you two are equal in love, experience, happiness and good conduct. You are two friends in happiness and misery, in virtues and faults. May you become equal in mind, speech and action, and in all the good virtues.”
Following this address, the couple’s hands are released in a ceremony called kar-mochan. A mantra is spoken for this release: “AUM ARHAM. You are the life. You are bonded by Gnanavarniya, Darshnavarniya, Vedaniya, Mohaniya, Ayu, Nama, Gota, Antaray Karma (the kinds of karma). Your karmas are bound by their character of quality, quantity, peace and binding power. May you obtain moksha by way of progressing on the fourteen gunasthan (stages of spiritual ascent). ARHAM AUM.
“You have released your hands but your love is unbroken.”
With this, the hands are released and the bride’s father offers a symbolic gift to the groom.
A blessing from the priest follows kar-mochan. He says: “We congratulate you on your marriage. May the gods of heaven grant you the blessings of prosperity, joy, wisdom and love forevermore. Whatever gods we have invited, we say farewell to you and request that you return when required for a similar auspicious occasion. If we have been guilty of any faults in these rituals, please forgive us.”
With the priest’s words, the wedding is concluded. The couple are sent off by their relatives and head first for the temple and then for the bride’s home.
Doctor Natubhai Shah, Chairman of the Jain Sangha of Europe, was extremely helpful as an informational resource in the writing of this piece.