Recall the old song
describing the marriage of Lord Shiva: Shivji bihane chale, palaki
sajayi ke, babhuti lagai ke… Well, something of that order is still
practiced in the hills of Himachal Pradesh. Inspired by the most
celebrated couple of Hindu mythology, the love saga of Shiv-Parvati
forms a part and parcel of the marriages in the Gaddi community, popular
as ‘Shiv Vivahs’.
Welcome
to Kangra-Bharmour, where lines between mythology and traditions get
blurred and marriage becomes an elaborate affair. Whenever there is a
marriage, the groom has to take a matrimonial test, wherein he takes the
guise of Lord Shiva by rubbing ash all over his body.
His
sisters, brothers and sister-in-laws try to convince him by
highlighting the benefits of a marriage so that he gives up his ascetic
lifestyle he plans to lead like that of Lord Shiva.“The boy says that he
am a yogi, who lives in the Himalyas and cannot get married. His family
and relatives beat him with plants even as he makes circles in the
backyard. The third round is the most crucial. If the spirit of lord
Shiva persists, the boys runs to a Shiv temple, choosing to become a
jogi and it is believed that Shiv’s will has taken over him,” says
Joginder Charak, a resident of Nagri in Palampur.
This
year itself, there were reports of two such cases _ in Jia and Khamiwal
_ where the would-be-grooms fled from the ceremony, rejecting the
institution of marriage. If the comes out of Shivji’s ‘awe’ he gets
ready to take a barat to the girl’s house and the marriage is officially
on. If due to any eventuality, the groom is unable to accompany the
barat, a katara (sharp-edged weapon) is sent as his representative and
the bride takes pheras with it and stays with it till she is handed over
to the groom, says Kul Prakash, a resident of Chamba district.
“For
the gaddi community, Shiv-Parvati are the ideal couple personified and
that is why the entire marriage ceremony is performed the way Lord Shiva
is known to have gone about his marriage in the Vedas,’ he adds. In the
olden times the marriage used to go on for days and the baraat is
served with meat and hooch. There was also a practice to marry off two
sisters on the same day. But with life becoming much faster, many
practices have been done away with. “Earlier, the boy and girls were
married in their teens and the marriage ceremony was virtually performed
all over again when they were brought together on attaining adulthood.
But this has stopped now,’ adds M.R.Dalel, a resident of Bharmour.
When
the barat finally comes back, a ‘nuwala’, Lord Shiva’s worship is
organised by the groom’s family and relatives and friends converge to
have another round of festivities. A large section of the gaddi
community continue to be deep rooted in their age-old traditions and
this form of elaborate ‘Shiv Vivah’ or ‘Gaddi Vivah’ is still prevalent
in district Kangra and Chamba, especially bharmour, Banikhet, Tisa and
Dalhousie.
