A Wedding

On August 3rd I attended a Christian interracial wedding at the Protestant Carmel Church (of the Arcot Lutheran Church) here at Tiruvannamalai.

Carmel Church, which has a large congregation, is located in a central part of Tiruvannamalai. This Church originates from 1898 when a mission station was built in Tiruvannamalai by DMS (the Danish Missionary Society). In 1905 the name of this mission station started to be called "Carmel".

The Church is bright and welcoming and had been nicely decorated for the upcoming ceremony with fresh flowers.

I like all the old fashioned touches, from the ornate wooden pews, to the very handsome rafter roof.

All the light fixures throughout the Church are decorative and aesthetic.

In the below photograph the flower decorated Church waits for the guests and wedding party.

As in all functions in India, the upcoming ceremony was heralded by traditional musicians.





The Church has filled and the congregation awaits the wedding party. And here comes the bride, Esther Deva Priya, youngest sister of Arcot's Pastor and Coordinator of Quo Vadis, Rev. Joshua Peter. Esther is accompanied by bridesmaids, some of whom were selected from the family and friends of the groom, Morten Skrubbeltrang (from Denmark).

Inside the Church, preparations are complete and all await the arrival of the bride and groom (who will be entering together).





Below the Bride from India, Esther Deva Priya stands with the Groom from Denmark Morten Skrubbeltrang in front of Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Dr. Gideon Devanesan R.J.

The service includes various Hymns and Prayers including the following:

O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
Lowly we kneel in prayer before thy throne,
That theirs may be the love which knows no ending.
Whom Thou for evermore dost join in one.
O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance
Of tender charity and steadfast faith.
Of patient hope and quiet brave endurance
With childlike trust that fears not pain nor death.

Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;
Grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,

And to life's day the glorious unknown morrow,

That dawns upon eternal love and life.

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After the service the usual photographs were taken outside the Church.

In the next photograph, the Groom is accompanied by his father and mother who came from Denmark for the celebrations. At the other end of the line are the Bride's father (in the white shirt) and (behind him) the Bride's mother.

Now that the beautiful marriage ceremony is complete and photographs have been taken, the flower-decorated car awaits to take the Bride and Groom to the Arunai Anantha Hotel for the reception and dinner.

Morten Skrubbeltrang will continue in Tamil Nadu for at least another year, pursuing his theological studies, afterwhich he and his new bride will spend some time in Denmark.

Its extraordinary just how many couples have met and joined up at Arunachala. And this is particularly true of interracial marriages of which there have been numerous. Many believe that at Arunachala (and other sacred sites) one will meet those with whom one shares strong karma with; so destiny will often take a hand in reintroducing friends (and enemies!) from past lives.

Wedding at Pachaiamman

Today I went to Pachaiamman Temple situated on the south east slope of Arunachala to meet with one of the Temple Trustees. I didn't realise when making the programme that the day would be a very auspicious one and that many of the Mandapams and Temples would be the venue of marriages. Here is the Raja Gopuram at the entrance of the Temple with Arunachala in the background.

Inside the Temple compound the statue of Pachaiamman (the green Goddess in the centre) sits looking out over her domain. Pachaiamman means 'Green Mother' and there are several stories connected with this Goddess which explains the history of her name. In one story, the sage Gautama Rishi in readying his Arunachala ashram to receive the Goddess, prepared a 'parnasala' (a holy seat). For this purpose durbai grass was used (a variety of pale yellow green grass used for yagnas). When the Goddess arrived and came to the 'parnasala', the durbai changed colour from the pale yellow green to an intense green. Another story of how the Goddess received the name Pachaiamman, is that during her journey from Kanchi to Arunachala, while staying at Vazhapanthal, Amman sat under a covering of lush green banana leaves; hence her name.

And in this her Arunachala domain, she sits watching over her guardian warriors. A legend of Pachaiamman (an aspect of Parvati) has it that after completing her penance at Kanchi, the Goddess started off for Arunachala. She travelled with 7 rishis and 7 virgins (Sapta Kanniyars) as part of a protective entourage. Halfway from Kanchi to Arunachala, the entourage stopped and made camp at the village Vazhapanthal. At that place the local king tried to molest the Goddess and the 7 rishis became as munishwaras (guardians) and killed the king. In the Pachaiamman Compound there are 14 statues of Pachaiamman’s warrior guardians set out in two lines, with two representations of each warrior.

When I arrived at the Temple a marriage was in progress. The ceremony was performed inside the Goddess shrine and afterwards the wedding entourage came outside into the compound to perform the rest of the wedding ritual. In the below photograph, the groom is putting on wedding 'toe rings' onto the toes of his new wife.

And here are the young couple.

The below shows the wonderfully extravagant hairdo of the bride; a lot of work went into that!

The following shows in more detail the intricacies of the bride's hairdo.

As in Western weddings, the bride and groom receive presents on the same day of the wedding ceremony. In India the favourite presents are usually to do with the kitchen. Sounds familiar!

Next the sister of the bride with whom I was having a nice chat. I had never attended a wedding at Pachaiamman Temple, and it seems a wonderful venue for such a function.

Below are the statues of Lord Munishwara's vahanas (vehicles) in the form of an elephant, a dog and five horses. I rather like the incongrous inclusion of the cotton candy seller!

Now that the function is over, time for tiffin. And snacks of sambhar rice with kurmar, bhajis and sweet kesari bath was served to all wedding guests on banana leaves in the Temple compound.

Once the wedding was over, the Compound emptied out quickly and suddenly everything was back to normal, the Hill and Pachaiamman silently watching over us all.