Chandra Rohini Kalyanam
While the term Kalyanam refers to marriages made between ordinary mortals like us, marriages performed between immortal gods and goddesses are known as Thirukalyanam. Some of the Thirukalyanam of the ancient celebrated divine personalities are as follows:-
1. Marriage ceremony of Bhakta Prahalada and Devi
Though most of them are not aware about the marriage ceremony of the great Bhakta Prahalada, who has dedicated his entire soul and body on devoting Lord Vishnu, but the details about this popular wedding was found very rarely in some holy scriptures of Hinduism. After the death of Hiranyakasipu, Prahalada began to rule almost the entire earth with the blessings of Lord Narasimha, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. He ruled very well and got a very good name among the people.
After attaining teenage, Prahalada’s Guru Shukra had advised him to marry a pious, chaste and a noble woman, whose name was Devi, and she also belonged to a royal family. After seeing the beautiful face and the good qualities of Devi, Prahalada willfully agreed to marry her, and the marriage took place in a grand manner, in the present day Maharashtra, and Brahma took charge as a wedding priest.
Lord Narasimha also attended the marriage, and blessed Prahalada and Devi, and also kept both of them on his lap, and rubbed them gently in an affectionate manner. Even Lord Indra also was present during the marriage ceremony, and he gave costly gifts as wedding presents to them. Narada and Shukracharya gave the whole knot to Prahalada, and Prahalada tied it on the neck of Ma Devi at an auspicious Brahma Muhurtham time.
Prahalada’s mother Ma Kayadu had shed joyful tears, and she was very much satisfied by seeing the wedding scene of her son Prahalada. Through the union of Prahalada and Ma Devi, the pure and pious Virochana was born, who has sacrificed his life itself due to the cunning act of Lord Indra and other Devas. We can see the idols of Prahalada in the Mutts of Guru Raghavendra, and whenever we watch the beautiful idol of Prahalada, we can think about the good qualities of Prahalada, who is the holy devotee of Lord Narasimha, who had lived a very pious life along with his consort Ma Devi before several millions of years back. Those who read about the Kalyana Vaibhavam of Prahalada, would be blessed by Prahalada as well as by Lord Narasimha, and they would attain lot of benefits in their lives.
2. Sri Sitarama Thirukalyanam
Sri Sita Rama Thirukalyanam took place during the Treta Yuga. Young Rama and Lakshmana helped Sage Vishwamitra towards killing the demons and after finishing the task, Viswamitra took them to Janakpur, Mithila, and there Rama had participated in the Swayamvaram of Ma Sita. Since Lord Ram broke the Divine bow of Lord Shiva successfully, Ram and Sita were married in Janakpur, which is situated in the present day India-Nepal Border. During the marriage ceremony, apart from the family members of Rama and Sita, even the divine devas, sages and gods like Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva also attended the marriage and they blessed the Royal couple.
Vivah Panchami is a Hindu festival which popularly celebrates the wedding of Rama and Sita. It is observed during November – December month, and that day is celebrated as the wedding day of Lord Rama, both in India as well as in Nepal, and especially it is celebrated at Janakpur dham in Nepal, where thousands of pilgrims arrives from many parts of India, since it is believed that Sita married with Lord Rama at this sacred place.
It is good to read the Sitarama Thirukalyana Vaibhavam from the Ramayana, since it describes the wonderful celebration of the marriage. During the time of marriage, all the people from Ayodhya and from Mithila were attended, and all of them were given warm welcome by the Royal family. Delicious food items were offered to all the participants of the marriage, irrespective of their caste, creed, community and religion. During the time of Ramayana Upanyasam, the Upasakar would tell about the marriage ceremony of Ma Sita and Lord Rama in an interesting manner. Those who study or hear the Ramayana Thirukalyanam would attain all sorts of prosperity in their lives, and they would lead a long life along with their family members in a peaceful manner.
3. Sri Murugan Thirukalyanam
Lord Murugan had married to Ma Valli and Ma Deivanai, and the divine wedding took place before several thousands of years ago, and it was witnessed by celestial Devas, Sages and by the gods and goddesses.
Valli and Deivanai are considered to be the daughters of Lord Vishnu. Deivanai was later adopted by Lord Indra and Ma Indrani, and they brought up her like their own daughter. Since both of them were interested to marry with Lord Muruga, Lord Muruga first married Ma Deivanai at the present place of Thiruparankundram Temple, and Lord Muruga later married with Valli, who was born in the earth, and was adopted by the Tribal Hunter Chief, Sri Nambirajan, and his consort.
After attaining teenage, she was given the task of guarding the paddy fields, and she stayed there nearby the paddy fields in a small hut along with her friends, and chased the birds and animals, whenever she finds them coming nearby the crops. Lord Muruga transformed himself into a charming young hunter, and he also tried to playfully touch her with his lotus hands. Since Valli doesn’t know that the hunter was her lovely god Muruga, she began to chase him away from that place. Later Lord Vinayaka transformed himself in the form of a wild elephant, and when Valli was got afraid with that huge animal, she took refuge under Muruga who was in the form of hunter, and after some time, Lord Vinayaka and Muruga had shown their true form to Ma Valli, and after playfully fighting with her father Nambirajan and his army, Lord Muruga had got married with Ma Valli at ValliMalai, which is situated in the present day Vellore District of Tamil Nadu.
Everyone who belongs to Hinduism must read about the divine marriages of Lord Vinayaka, Muruga, Srinivasa, Meenakshi, Prahalada, Dhruva, Rama and Krishna, in order to lead a blessed married life. At the present situation of life, we could find lot of misunderstanding among the married couples. Even for some silly reasons, couples are getting separated from each other, and they are also taking the extreme step of opting for divorces, and this all happens due to lack of understanding between each other. By reading the incidents about the divine marriages, we could assure that the married and the newly married Couples family life would go smoothly, without any hindrances in their life.
4. Sri Vigneswara Thirukalyanam
As per most of the people’s belief, Lord Vigneswara also called as Ganesa and Vinayaka is a bachelor. But he is also mentioned in the Puranas as a married person. Ma Siddhi and Ma Buddhi, who are the daughters of Brahma, are considered to be the wives of Lord Ganesha, and the daughters of Lord Brahma are considered to be the mind born daughters of Lord Brahma.
Ma Buddhi is the goddess of wisdom, whereas Siddhi refers to the goddess of wealth and prosperity, and both of the wives of Lord Ganesa contain good knowledge in all the subjects which they have acquired it from their parents, Lord Brahma and Ma Saraswathi. In some pictures, we could see that both of the consorts of Lord Vinayaka affectionately hug Lord Vinayaka by having shyness on their faces.
As per ancient legend, once when Lord Ganesa visited the Brahma Loka, Lord Brahma felt very happy about the arrival of Lord Ganesa to his divine Loka, and hence he decided to offer his two daughters as a gift to the first god Vinayaka. Brahma’s daughters were also very much interested to marry with Lord Ganesa, and after getting permission from Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati, it is believed that the divine marriage took place in the Brahma Loka, the abode of Lord Brahma.
The details about the divine marriage were mentioned in the famous Ganesha Purana, and the divine marriage was performed by Lord Brahma, Saraswathi, Parvati, Parameswara, and Narada and Agastiya were served as the divine Priests, by chanting the divine mantras, and honoured the divine couple, Vinayaka and his consorts, Siddhi and Buddhi.
It is also believed that Lord Ganesa has two sons, one is Kshema, who is considered to be the god of Prosperity born to Siddhi, and another one is Labha born to Buddhi, who is considered to be the god of wisdom, and it is also believed that Lord Ganesa is also having one daughter, who is called popularly as Ma Santoshi.
The marriage between Ganesa and his consorts took place before several millions of years, and it is considered to be a popular marriage ceremony similar to the “MEENAKSHI THIRUKALYANAM”, and “SRINIVASA THIRUKALYANAM”, and it is also believed that those who read about the story of Lord Ganesha Thirukalyanam would get a blessed life, and those who are unmarried would be married soon to a nice life partner, and their married life would last for a long period of time, without any obstacles in their personal life.
“OM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR