Importance of Mehandi in an Indian Wedding

Despite the presence of many religions and their custom one common ritual that is
celebrated in all the religions is the ceremony of Mehandi. Mehandi ceremony is
celebrated a day prior to the wedding where every female in the wedding applies
Mehandi which is considered as auspicious and enhances the celebration mood.
Professional Mehandi artists are called to apply Mehandi on bride’s hands and feet which
add more beauty to her and make her look different from other females.

Mehandi symbolizes a sign of fertility in many cultures but generally, Mehandi

symbolizes the love and affection of a husband for his wife. The darker the color of
Mehandi, more deep is the love of the husband and her mother-in-law. This is the reason
that it is applied almost on all the important occasions like Indian marriages, karva
chaut, rakhi, teej and Diwali etc. Today, Mehandi ceremony has become a grand affair
and is celebrated along with sangeet where some are dancing and singing on Dholak,
these days DJ system have also become very popular and some are some are sitting and
are applied Mehandi on their hands.

Mehandi has become an ornament for the bride which is applied beautifully and with
many designs such as flower designs, influences from Indian architecture, Arabic,
Rajasthani and many women also inscribe their husband’s name in the Mehandi and later
tell their husbands to find their name. These days Mehandi has also become a fashion
statement and many unmarried young girls apply Mehandi on their arms, stomach, ankle
and on the back when wearing deep blouses. Mehandi has no side-effects and in some
places it is considered as ayurvedic medicine for hair. It is made of henna and water and
some people also mix water of tea leaves into this mixture to get a darker color once the
Mehandi is removed.

Like other rituals in a marriage like engagement, rokna, haldi ceremony and so on where
the bride is dressed beautifully, on Mehandi ceremony a bride generally wears yellow or
orange color outfit as these colors are colors of emanate positive energy and is thus,
considered to be auspicious. It is a family affair where only close relatives are invited and
give blessings to the bride and apply henna on their hands as well. It is a saying that a
bride does not do any household work unless her Mehandi is entirely removed from her
hands. It is also a saying that the longer it stays, the more love she receives from her
husband and in-laws.

Thus, we can say that the idea of Mehandi comes naturally to Indians, though
internationally it has become a fashion statement, but with Indians it holds a special place
in its customs and this trend is increasing and being adopted by other cultures as well.
Gurleen Kaur writes on behalf of Jeevansathi.com, which is India’s fastest growing
matrimonial website providing online Indian matrimonial classified service.
Jeevansathi.com enables users to create and search corresponding matches for their
respective profiles like Hindu matrimony, Muslim matrimony wherein users can avail
free registration and make initial contact with each other through services available on
Jeevansathi.com via Chat, SMS, and e-mail.