 |
|
Wedding with a
difference COORG
is a tiny district tucked away in the southwest corner of the state of
Karnataka, and its 1500 square miles are almost entirely covered with
coffee and spice plantations. The region is now known as Kodagu, and
its people are called the Kodavas. Physically, the Kodavas look
different from the others in Karnataka. They are tall with sharp
features, and according to anthropologists, of Aryan descent. It is
also said that they are descendants of soldiers of Alexander the
Great, who invaded India in 327 BC.
Their traditional costumes are also very different to those of the other states. The men wear a half-sleeved black coat known as a kupya over a full-sleeved white shirt, and a maroon and gold sash known as a chale is tied round their waist, into which is tucked an ornate silver dagger, known as a peechekath. A more ominous-looking knife called a odikathi is tucked into the sash at the back, and to complete the martial look, hanging from a chain is a miniature gun and dagger. The women also have a
distinct way of dressing, different from all the other states in
India. They wear their sarees with the pleats at the back, and after
wrapping the pallav across the chest, it is brought over the
right shoulder and secured with a broach. With this is worn a
full-sleeved or three-quarter sleeved blouse and a scarf over the
head. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
At weddings, the groom wears a white kupya instead of the usual black one, and the bride wears a red saree. Decked out in her finest jewellery, she wears kokkethathi, a necklace with a crescent moon-shaped pendant. Like elsewhere in India, no written laws govern a Kodava wedding, and everything is done according to oral tradition. At the Dampathi Muhurtham ceremony, the bride and groom are blessed by gifts of money. The bride and groom are led separately to stools placed next to each other on a dais decorated with jasmine garlands. By turns, family members and guests bless them by sprinkling rice first over the groom’s head and then the bride’s and giving them each a sip of milk. The couple bend and touch the feet of the elders, and before moving on a monetary gift is discreetly placed in the groom’s hand. No priest presides over the ceremony. Instead, garlands are exchanged after the elders from both families have given their blessings to the alliance. Twelve stones representing coins are also exchanged at this time. One stone is kept at the bride’s home and symbolises her right to return to her father’s house.
Later, at a Ganga puja ceremony, the bride goes to the family well where she worships the water as a symbol of the Cauvery River. She is given a coconut to break open, and scoops up water from the well to carry in two small pots on her head to her husband’s kitchen. Along the way, she is playfully blocked by the male members of the wedding party. The hapless bride may have to wait for quite a while before she is allowed to pass. She carries the pots of water to kitchen, symbolising transfer of membership from her family home to her husband’s. Hunting having been a tradition, nothing makes the Kodavas happier than to return home with a wild boar, after a long hunt in the woods to make pandhi curry — their traditional pork dish. Even today any important festival or wedding feast would be incomplete without this particular dish. Other dishes peculiar to the Kodavas include rotis made of rice and kadambuttu a kind of steamed ball also made of rice — shaped like a kadamb flower. Known for their hospitality, a visitor
is invited to have a cup of coffee before any other conversation can
proceed. Hence, the biggest insult a visitor can possible give a host,
is to refuse the first cup of coffee, or as is becoming more popular, a
cup of tea — Nilgiri tea naturally! |
|||
 |
 |
