I had a chance to attend the wedding ceremony of one of my Assamese friends, Madhurjya Phukan. He belongs to the Ahom community whose ancestors ruled Assam for six centuries.
The Ahoms are strict followers of their ancestors, as they are believed to keep an eye on their descendents. Worshipping their ancestors in the weddings is an important part of Assamese Matrimony. They believe that the ancestors keep the household free from any kind of evil eyes or bad omen.
The rituals and customs followed in Madhurjya’s wedding were common to all Assamese communities, which involved the Joron, Daiyan and Gathiyan ceremony. His was a love marriage with an Assamese girl only, who belonged to other community. They faced a lot many problems while convincing their parents for the alliance.
However, all the traditions were followed in their wedding, as they would do in an arranged Assamese matrimony.
At the time of wedding, the groom was made to sit in a courtyard; the bride came in and walked seven times round the groom. The bride sat by groom’s side and to my surprise, a cloth piece was tied round her neck and the other end of the cloth was fastened to the groom's waist. There were a number of rituals that were so interesting that I forgot that I was attending a wedding. Some of the rituals in the Assamese matrimony were quite adventurous for me.
After the rituals concluded, the bride and groom were given gives words of advice by the priest, from the holy books of Ahoms. They were reminded of their rights and duties of married life. As I stated earlier, Ahoms strongly believe in worshipping their ancestors, the history of seven generation of the boy’s family was recounted. Overall, attending an Ahom wedding was a different experience for me!
Author: Rashmi Karan
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