Unique Coorgi wedding

Though I have been in Karnataka for over 20 years, I have never been to the hill station of Kodagu (Coorg in English). 

I don't think it's unusual for us to overlook well-known places in our own state or country while we travel to many distant touristy spots. 

For example, during my first trip to the US in November 2008, I visited the National Mall in Washington, DC and the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. I remember my cousin, who resided in Virginia and hosted me, telling me they had never been to both places, even after being in the US for almost two decades!

The wedding of my office colleague gave me a chance to visit Kodagu, finally.

LAND OF KODAVAS

A small introduction to Kodagu. 

It is one of the 31 districts in Karnataka in southwest India. 

The original inhabitants of the place are called Kodavas, an ethnolinguistic group quite distinct from people of the rest of the state. They are traditionally landowning peasants who worship weapons. 

Kodavas are good at martial arts and also in sports, especially hockey. They had good representation in the Indian Army in its formative years after Independence.

The scenic hilly Kodagu (renamed Coorg by the British) is among the top tourist destinations in South India. I found the topography very similar to Kerala (my home state).

The wedding was in Gonikoppal town on February 5. It's a 6-hour drive from Bengaluru.

BYLAKUPPE

We left Bengaluru the previous day early morning at 6.15.

On the way, we took a detour to visit Bylakuppe, home to the second largest Tibetan settlement in the world, after Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh in north India. This is my 2nd visit to the place. I was there in October 2006.

Probably because it was a weekend, the place was swarming with tourists. 

A lot has changed in the last 16 years. Many buildings, shopping complexes and vehicle parking lots have come up.

GOLDEN TEMPLE

The entrance to the monastery.

There are six Tibetan monasteries; the most famous is the Namdroling Monastery of Nyingma (Nyingmapa). 

The main temple here is Padmasambhava Buddhist Vihara. But people gave it the simpler name of Golden Temple because of the large gold-plated statues of Buddha and saints Padmasambhava, Sukhayami and Amitayus. That name has stuck over the years, not just for the temple but for the monastery as well.

The Golden Temple

The prayer hall

The walls of the prayer hall have beautiful Tibetan Buddhist paintings called Thangka. There is also a lovely garden. 

GONIKOPPAL

We spent about 45 minutes there. Then, we left for Gonikoppal, also called Gonikoppa, at 12.30 pm. It took about an hour to reach the place.

We had booked a nice resort, The Barn. It is tucked away in a wooded area. To reach the resort, one must drive about 2 km away from the tarred road through a rough, uneven, narrow pathway. 

Three of the 10 cottages.

However, the vast resort premises is mainly open space barring about 10 cottages and a building that houses the office, kitchen and restaurant.

In the afternoon, we went to a Coorgi restaurant called Cuisine Papera. Coorg's cuisine is predominantly rice-based. Some well-known dishes are akki roti (flat bread made of rice), noolputtu (steamed rice noodles), pork curry, and bamboo shoot curry.

WEDDING WITHOUT PRIEST

The next day, February 5, Sunday, was the wedding. 

(I am not posting any photos of the wedding. Plenty of images are available online. Give a web search for 'Coorgi wedding'.) 

The wedding eve is a day of fun-filled merriment among relatives at the homes of both the groom and the bride. There is feasting and dancing while preparations go on for the wedding the next day. 

At the bride's home, her mother ties the pathak -- the Coorgi equivalent of the mangal sutra (auspicious thread) -- around the neck of the bride. This is a stark departure from the usual Hindu tradition of the groom tying the thread on the wedding day.

This is very unlike other Hindu weddings. No priest conducts the ceremony, nor are there typical religious rituals. 

The couple prays to their ancestors for their blessings.  

SHOW OF VALOUR

On the wedding day, in the morning, there is the Baale Birud. 

It's a short ceremony, lasting a few minutes, during which the maternal uncles of the groom and the bride slash six stems of banana plants to the accompaniment of song and dance. It symbolises the celebrated valour of Coorgis.

Afterwards, in the wedding hall, the groom and bride, adorned in their traditional costume and finery, ascend the mandap (a temporary decorated platform). 

They are surrounded by their close relatives. who bless the two, who are showered with rice grains. They are also pronounced as a couple amid friendly banter and jokes.

Then the other relatives, friends and guests walk up to bless the couple.  

COUSIN PLAYS SPOILSPORT

As the groom leads the bride out of the mandap (the raised platform) to his house, her path is blocked by her cousin-brother (who traditionally had the right to marry her). 

Friendly, fun-filled arguments and bargaining follow. Currency notes are waved to bribe him, so he will let the bride go. Then, finally, the cousin accepts a gold coin, relents and lets the bride follow her groom.

The morning functions come to an end with lunch. Again, unlike typical Hindu weddings, non-vegetarian food is served.

After a post-meal rest in the afternoon, we returned to the wedding venue in the evening.

SHORT, LONG WALK

In the evening, the main event is the Ganga Pooja. Water is drawn from a well on the premises (symbolising sacred water). 

After prayers, the bride balances three small pots containing the sacred water and walks towards the wedding hall along with a couple of relatives of the groom. This symbolises the bride coming into the groom's household.

There is so much music and dancing around the bride while snacks and drinks are served, enveloping the entire area in an air of celebration.  

The dancing along the bride's path slows her pace so much that she takes at least two hours to walk a distance of about 50 meters!

Most of the time, she stands, holding the water pots on her head rather than walking. Rituals apart, she is helped by others who hold the water pots on her behalf!  

In the wedding hall, she ascends the mandap again and keeps the water pots reverentially at a designated spot.

The dinner concludes the wedding ceremony.

IT'S ALL FUN AND FROLIC

It was great getting to see a Coorgi wedding for the first time. 

Though a wedding is an occasion for celebration, one typically associates a certain amount of solemnity during the ceremony. 

But here was a wedding that combined age-old serious rituals and traditions with lots of fun and frolic. They were all done in an entertaining manner with so much laughter and merrymaking.