Wedding during COVID
A hurried wedding or a wedding sans celebration and the usual pomposity in India is a rarity. But what counts more is that rich or poor, affluent or impoverished, if the decision is made to tie the knot then it shall be on that day, that time and that hour. Is that love, bonding or simply will power to stand by the person who you chose to marry or was chosen for you to marry or the stars matched them all? What would be the alternatives then if not for marriage in these times….courts closed, religious places shut, halls abandoned, gathering prohibited? While contrary to all this, the stars have predicted it all and so one shall obey. Rituals and customs also make it taboo for extreme alternatives at weddings for young couples. What could be the root cause for such hasty, insensitive decisions in times like this?
Rites, rituals, and customs have always played a prominent role in our lives right from childhood to old age. Where logic does not work the fear of God and the wrath of the invisible certainly helps. In retrospection of certain ways of life….what do parents easily resort to while admonishing a little child who goes contrary on purpose? Simple: the fear of God! The subconscious mind gradually gets transformed and tuned to the fear of God, which when drawn to the extreme goes to the level of superstition and the presence of Fate and Destiny in your life. From there stems the belief in divine powers and astrology and the trails to the scriptures and the holy books. Defining rules and disciplining behaviours has been far too easier in India when it is given a religious dimension and fear.
Marriage is thus one ritual that is given a lot of importance and sanctity in India. Ask people for an explanation for why a man and woman have to go through a series of rituals and very rarely would one get logical answers for the same. However, the feeling that the bride and groom go through while performing all the rituals and activities builds a bonding between the couple. To top this all is the belief that destiny plays a very crucial role in the marriage of a man and woman. To ensure this bonding is stabilized there is a religious dimension given to marriage to maintain the dignity and propriety of conduct between man and woman.
While selecting the partner and the entire process, astrology and auspicious dates and days play a pivotal role. Right from the gotra which is the lineage (genetics and the role of genetics) to the comparison of horoscopes, every single calculation and prediction counts. The horoscope is believed to reflect everything right from the temperament of the person to the health to the parents well being to the intellectual and spiritual levels to health and compatibility. And when the match is perfect, there cannot be any pushback, any delay for time lost is time lost forever. Based on the movement and position in the horoscopes is the auspicious day and time arrived at and therefore belief and faith supersede everything else in the world. Hence, even at risk and peril of life like COVID has on life, families go ahead and tie the knot and ensure the marriage is solemnized. Says Shakespeare, It is the stars, The stars above us, govern our conditions. (King Lear, 4.3.37), Kent. And so one follows the prediction of the stars…….
