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Showing posts from July 18, 2013

The Mangalsutra Necklace

The Mangalsutra Necklace: Sacred Symbol of Love & Marriage In Hinduism, when a girl gets married she adorns certain jewelry and observes special customs to make obvious her marital status. Just as a many of you wear the wedding ring after marriage, the married Hindu girl, according to the tradition, has to wear the 'mangalsutra,' bangles, nose and toe rings and a red bindi or apply 'kumkum' or ver milion on her forehead symbolizing not only her rite of passage from a girl to a married woman but also her heightened position in society as an adult who is respected and is capable of running a household, which is, in a way, the microcosm of the society at large. What is Mangalsutra? The word 'mangalsutra' is derived from the two words, mangal meaning holy or auspicious and sutra meaning thread. It is a sacred necklace that the groom ties around the bride's neck on the day of the wedding in a ceremony called Mangalya dharanam (meaning - wearing the auspic