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Kali Dasi
12 January 2009, 06:53 PM
Presently my fiance and I are planning our wedding coming up this year. We are adults who have been independent for years and our parents are no longer alive. I was confused about a form of marriage for us that would express Sanatana Dharma. Then I remembered the Gandharva form of marriage. This would seem to be the answer to what we would like to express in our marriage. We want our marriage to have a spiritual basis to start with and I am very happy with the idea of the Hindu basis of a relationship being friendship and of marriage being a process of seeing the divine in each other and progressing in spiritual understanding. At our age we are no longer interested in all the complications and grandeur of a large expensive wedding. We have recognized in each other our future partners. I think in its best form this is what a love match is and a simpler recognition of each before Deity along with a civil ceremony to make it legal within the laws of our country would be sufficeint. We are not teenagers hoping to elope and avoid parental disapproval.

I elicit response from the forum. I would like to hear your opinion of the Gandharva form. I get the idea that this is controversial, with some people thinking of it as a very inferior form of wedlock, resorted to by couples with low moral standards, movie stars and couples wishing to elope. I would also like to hear you experiences and attittude towards Hindu marriage in general and what rituals you may have participated in whether as a couple or when celebrating weddings with friends or families that are Hindu. Thank you!

Om Jai Kali Ma! Om Namah Shivaya!
Kali Dasi

ScottMalaysia
20 June 2009, 06:22 AM
Go to a Hindu temple with your fiance. You will each need a garland and he will need a mangalsutra necklace. Tell the pujari you wish to marry each other. Exchange garlands in front of the main Deity in the temple, and have your husband tie the mangalsutra necklace.

This is what couples who run away to get married in Tamil Nadu do.