Indian subcontinent for sale in
Chennai, India In countries of the
Indian subcontinent, such as India and Pakistan, people may place garland around the necks of guests of honour, as a way of showing respect to them. Garlands are worn by the bridegroom in South Asian weddings.
India at the
Jain temple of Sravanbelagola Garlands were historically purely secular at first, sought for their fragrance and beauty and used for decorating houses, roads, and streets. It is eventually applied to
Hindu deities as an important and traditional role in every festival where these garlands are made using different fragrant flowers (often
jasmine) and leaves. Both fragrant and non-fragrant flowers and religiously-significant leaves are used to make garlands to worship Hindu deities. Some popular flowers include: •
jasmine •
champaka •
lotus •
lily •
ashoka •
nerium/
oleander •
chrysanthemum •
rose •
hibiscus •
pinwheel flower •
manoranjini, etc. in
Tamil Nadu Apart from these, leaves and grasses like
arugampul, maruvakam,
davanam, maachi, paneer leaves,
lavancha are also used for making garlands. Fruit, vegetables, and sometimes even currency notes are also used for garlands, given as
thanksgiving.
Wedding ceremonies in India include the bride and groom wearing a wedding garland. On other occasions, garlands are given as a sign of respect to an individual person or to a
divine image. A
gajra is a flower garland which women in India and
Bangladesh wear in their hair during traditional festivals. It is commonly made with
jasmine. It can be worn around a bun, as well as in braids. Women usually wear these when they wear
sarees. Sometimes, they are pinned in the hair with other flowers, such as roses.
South India In ancient times,
Tamil kings employed people to manufacture garlands daily for a particular deity. These garlands were not available for public consumption. In contemporary times, each Hindu temple in southern India has a
nandavanam (flower garden) where flowers and trees for garlands are grown. Large Shiva temples like
Thillai Nataraja Temple, Chidambaram,
Thyagaraja Temple, Tiruvarur, and
Arunachaleswara Temple, and those found in
Thiruvannamalai still preserve such nandavanams for supplying flowers for daily rituals. Stone inscriptions of
Rajaraja I at
Thanjavur gives details of patronage bestowed by royals to the conservation of nadavanams that belonged to the "
Big Temple".
Marigold and
nitya kalyani garlands are used only for corpses in burial rituals. At social functions, garlands are used to denote the host. At
Srirangam Ranganathar temple, only garlands made by temple
sattharars (
brahmacaris employed for garland-making) are used to adorn the deity
Ranganatha. Garland and flowers from outside the temple grounds are forbidden. Sattarars have several disciplinary rules for many aspects of their profession, some of which include: • Flowers should be picked in the early morning. • Flowers should not be smelled by anyone. • Flowers should be picked only after one has bathed. • The flowers which fallen from the plant and touched the ground should not be used. • Namajapam, or the repetition of holy names, should be done while picking flowers. While making garlands, the sattarars keep flowers and other materials on a table in order to keep them away from the feet, which are traditionally viewed as unclean and unfit for use in a religious context. Material is always kept above hip level. South Indian garlands are of different types. Some of them are as follows: • Thodutha maalai – Garlands made from the fiber of the banana tree (vaazhainaar). Common in marriage ceremonies and devotional offerings. In all Hindu marriages the bride and bridegroom exchange garlands three times. These garlands range in length from and vary from to in diameter. • Kortha maalai – Made using needle and thread. Jasmine, mullai, and lotus garlands are made using this method. Malas for the gods have two free lower ends with kunjam (bunch of flowers), i.e. only the upper two ends are joined and the lower ends should not be not joined. They have two kunjams, whereas garlands for human use have both lower ends joined (only one kunjam). Each Hindu deity has a unique garland: •
Lalitha wears
hibiscus •
Vishnu wears
tulasi leaves •
Shiva wears
bilva leaves •
Subrahmanya wears
jasmine •
Lakshmi wears
red lotus •
Sarasvati wears
white lotus •
Durga wears
nerium oleander •
Vinayaka wears
dūrvā grass •
Hanuman wears
Tagetes erecta The tradition of garlanding statues as a sign of respect extends to respected non-divine beings, including ancient King
Perumbidugu Mutharaiyar II and the innovative colonial administrator
Mark Cubbon.
Nepal A reference to a garland is found in the Nepalese national anthem,
Sayaun Thunga Phulka. The first line reads, "Woven from hundreds of flowers, we are one garland that's Nepali."
Christendom In
Christian countries, garlands are often used as
Christmas decorations, such as being wrapped around a Christmas tree. ==See also==