Some of the Marriage Rituals among the Apatanis

Abstract

Marriage is a universal phenomenon. Every society has their own way of giving social recognition to the union of a male and female as a couple. The Apatani people also have their own way of giving social recognition to the marriage of a couple. The Apatanis practiced elaborate marriage rituals. Effort has been made to cover all the marriage rituals of Apatani in detail in this paper. Traditionally the boy goes to the girl's parents to ask for her hand. Earlier, the parents of the boy look for girl. If they found a suitable girl, they perform a rite called Pahin Koniin. The priest takes a chicken and recites the hymns over the chicken. After the incantation is over, the chicken is killed by knife. Then the liver of the chicken is taken out and carefully examined by the priest. If the chicken liver gives good omen for the couple, then the parents of the boy take it to the parents of the girl and show the chicken liver. To show the chicken liver to the girl's parents the parents of the boy appoint a smart and active person as a messenger to convey the message. He is called Gunthang. Generally, the Gunthang is a relative of the boy. When the Gunthang reached girl's house the girl's parents perform another rituals called Pahin Biini Nii. In this ritual the girl's parents killed a chicken and request a priest to examine the liver of the chicken to see whether the result is favourable or not.