Article on Poo Maalai / Wedding & Temple Garlands underneath the pictures
In India, flower garlands have an important and traditional role in every social and religious festival. Hindu deities are decorated with garlands made from different fragrant flowers (often jasmine, rose, tube rose and marigold) and fragrant leaves. Both fragrant and even non-fragrant flowers and religiously-significant leaves like Marukozhunthu, Thulasi, Vilva, Durva grass etc are used to make garlands to worship Hindu deities. Some of these flowers are as follows: jasmine, Champaka, lotus, lilies, Ashoka, nerium/oleander, chrysanthemum, roses, hibiscus, pinwheel flowers, Manoranjini etc.
In Tamilnadu, main door frame of the house is decorated with door frame garland known as Nila Maalai during a Housewarming party.
Leaves and grasses like local Arugampul, Maruvakam, Davanam, Maachi, Panneer leaves and lavancha are also used for making garlands. Sometimes even fruits, vegetables and currency notes are used for garlands, given as thanksgiving. In Hindu weddings, the bride and groom wear a beautiful, colourful wedding garland. On other occasions, a flower garland is used to show respect and devotion to a human individual or a statue or picture of God. In Tamil Nadu, marigold flower garlands are used only for dead bodies and last rites.
A Gajra is a flower garland which women in North India wear in their hair during traditional festivals. It is made usually of fragrant jasmine. It is worn both around a bun and in braids. Women usually wear these Gajras when they wear traditional Sarees.
In Hindu temples in ancient Tamilnadu, kings appointed people for making garlands daily for deities. Each Hindu temple in southern India has Nandavanam (heavenly flower garden) where floral plants and tree leaves for making garlands are grown. Huge Shiva temples like Thillai Nataraja Temple in Chidambaram, Thyagaraja Temple in Tiruvarur and Arunachaleswara Temple in Thiruvannamalai still preserve such Nandavanams for supply of flowers for everyday temple rituals. Stone Inscriptions of Raja Raja Chola I at Thanjavur in Tamilnadu gives details of patronage of royals to the conservation of Nadavanams that belonged to The Big Temple ( Brihadeeshwara Temple )
In Srirangam in Tamilnadu, Sri Ranganathar temple only uses garlands made by temple Sattharars (people whose only job is to make garlands for the temple and never marry - surrendering their whole life to the service of the Lord ). No other flower garlands are used to adorn Lord Ranganatha in Srirangam temple.. Temple Sattarars have traditional rules for everything - from plucking flowers to making garlands. Some of them are as follows:
The flowers should be plucked in the early morning.
The flowers should not be smelled by anyone.
They should be plucked only after having bath.
The flowers which fall down on earth or dirt should not be used.
Naamajapam or the chanting of holy names should be done while plucking flowers.
While making garlands they keep flowers and other materials on a table because the garland for God should not touch the feet. It is always kept above hip level.
Depending upon the patterns and materials used, the south Indian garlands are of different types. Some of them are as follows:
Thodutha Maalai - which means garlands made using banana tree fibers. Most of the garlands used for Hindu marriages and temple worship in southern India are made using this method.
Kortha Maalai - made using needle & thread. Jasmine, Mullai, and lotus garlands are made using this method. The Maala for Gods has 2 free lower ends with Kunjam (bunch of flowers).
Each Hindu deity has a unique garland: Goddess Lalitha wears hibiscus garland, Lord Vishnu wears Thulasi leaves garland, Lord Shiva wears Bilva leaves garland, Lord Subrahmanya wears jasmine garland, Mahalakshmi wears red lotus, Saraswathi Devi wears white lotus garland, Durga Devi wears nerium oleander garland and Vinayaka wears garland made of Durva Grass.
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( Disclaimer : All images featured in this Blog-post, are the property of their respective owners. Our deepest sense of gratitude to all of them for making this gigantic project a reality. If you see your picture anywhere in this Blog and don't want it here, send us a message with the details and the link to the picture, and we will remove it right away. But at the outset, I just want to let my dearest readers know, that the noble purpose of this Blog, is to promote 'The Glorious Cultural Heritage of India' worldwide, to every nook & corner of the planet, and I would immensely love to see every single one of us, of Indian origin, passionately participating in this Mega-Project. I am right now in the process of adding the web-links to the sources of the innumerable images in this Blog. Till the work reaches completion, I would request the readers to use 'Google Image Search' to trace the source / multiple sources of these images on the web. The rich text contents througout this blog are based on well-researched aggregated and curated content from innumerable sources. But mostly and most importantly, these contents are based on my own personal experience of untiringly exploring the glorious cultural heritage India, and the ageless timeless ethnic arts, crafts, textiles, temples etc of the whole of India, during my stay across the length and breadth of this vast expansive Indian subcontinent for more than 5 decades of my long adventurous life. I have expressed my deepest gratitude to all the text sources on the 'World-Wide-Web', that have hugely contributed and added to my existing database of knowledge on this subject, by inserting appropriate hyperlinks throughout this blog, to connect my ardent readers from across the globe, to these rich sources of information on India's heritage. So Long, Mala Chandrashekhar )
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