Kashmir is a heavenly place and is the crown of India. It is the land of beautiful valleys, lakes and mountain peaks. Kashmiri people are more similar to North Indian societies than other Himalayan people. The population in this region is stratified due to religion and caste system and has a lot of diversity. But the main residents are Kashmiri Pundits and Muslims and both have different flavors of festivities in their weddings. This article gives a brief overview on the marriage attire worn at the weddings of Kahsmiri Pandits and Kashmiri Muslims.
Kashmiri Pundit: They are Hindu Brahmins and worship Lord Vishnu and are popularly known as Vaishnavs. Although most of its population lives outside of Kashmir, they still practice the same wedding rituals and customs with traditional wedding customs and dresses for brides and grooms.
Bridal Clothes: The Kashmiri bride has to wear an elaborate wedding dress with lots of colors and glitter. The Kashmiri Pundit bride wears a headdress known as a Kalpush, a long cap folded three or four times and lined with silk or cotton from the inside. Then the white cloth over the kalpush is wrapped in three or four layers, which is known as zoojh. After which, an ice paper is sewn on top of the zoojh and this whole head accessory is known as a tarang.
The bridal attire consists of a suit, sari or lehnga, which must be red in color and if not red, the Kashmiri bride wears the shades of pink and yellow. A lot of gold thread work known as zari work is mixed with paisley embroidery which looks spectacular on the bride. Dupatta is placed over the tarang which enhances the look of the Kashmiri Pundit bride.
Jewelry has a lot of meaning for a skilled Kashmiri bride. They wear heavy gold jewelry around their necks, gold bangles on their hands, paayal and toe ring and a special adornment known as dejharoo is worn. Dejharoo is a pair of gold pendants that hang from a gold chain through the holes in the earlobes. It has the same meaning in Kashmiri scholars as mangalsutra does among Hindus. A waistband is also an important bridal attire that is two meters long and half a meter wide.
Grooms: The Kashmiri groom wears a traditional dress, known as a pheran, on his wedding day. She wears a waist band along with it, which is very wide and long. He attaches a sword to his waist and one of the male relatives ties a turban known as a Gordastar on the groom’s head. But, the traditions are changing these days, with more young people preferring to wear kurta pajamas, achkan or formal suits in their marriage. The Kashmiri Pundit groom is supposed to wear traditionally embroidered shoes known as paazar. The whole look is glamorized by placing ruby beads or some other gemstone beaded chain around her neck.
Kashmiri Muslims: The majority of the population of Kashmir is Muslim and they celebrate their wedding by performing all the rituals with total religiosity. The women are very beautiful with a European pink hue behind the oriental tan. Brides wear a beautifully embroidered pheran, a traditional dress for Kashmiri women, along with an elaborate headdress known as a Kasaba. It is a fabric available in various colors and fastened with pins and silver trinkets. It is decorated with gold embroidery and silver pendant embellishments hanging on the forehead. In jewelry, brides carry heavy bouquets of silver jewelry that sparkle and whose beauty can even be perceived by a person from a distance. The jewelry also includes heavy jhoomar style earrings that are supported by a thick silver chain, necklace, bracelets, and paayal around the ankle. The Kashmiri Muslim groom, on the other hand, wears a pheran along with a wide belt. He wears a Muslim cap on his wedding day, which shows devotion to his religion.
The wedding attire of the bride and groom plays an important role in making the marriage ceremony more memorable and appreciable. Kashmiri brides and grooms have the most unusual marriage attire that showcases their culture in the utmost simplicity without overdoing the glamour, adding to the beauty and feel of their marriage.
