Malacca - For Malacca Chitty Cultural Association secretary K. Nadarajan Rajah, 44, getting married recently was more than just a matter of tying the knot. It was a chance to get in touch with his roots.
The businessman decided to get married the traditional Chitty way with a three-week elaborate and colourful ceremony carried out at his ancestral home in Kampung Chitty, Gajah Berang, Malacca, recently.
His bride W. Wenila, 28, is from Medan, Indonesia.
Although Hindu by religion, it is not unusual for a Chitty man to marry a woman from another race, a practice that led to the birth of the community in Malacca 600 years ago.
Observing customs: The couple and family members performing some rites at the wedding ceremony.
“I was introduced to my bride Wenila, 28, from Simalingkar in Medan by a friend last year.
“We got on well and discovered that we shared a lot in common,” he said.
After several months of courtship, Nadarajan said he found the courage to propose to Wenila and later met her parents in Medan to receive their blessings.
He said he decided to get married the traditional way to preserve the community‘s fast-dying heritage.
“Traditional Chitty weddings are almost unheard of these days. Not many are aware of it as there are not many Chitties left in the country. Sad to say, even those from my community rarely practise it,” said Nadarajan, adding that it took him several months to get the details right.
Chitties are said to be descendants of Hindu traders who settled in Malacca and took on local women as wives.
Over the centuries their descendants adopted the local culture with Malay being the spoken language.
There are less than 300 Chitties scattered throughout Malacca and the country with about 20 families still living in Kampung Chitty.
Though similar to Hindu marriages, Chitty weddings include customs and traditions from local communities.
Some of the rituals observed during Nadarajan and Wenila‘s wedding were the coming of age and engagement ceremonies.
Wenila was smeared with kunyit (turmeric) paste and then bathed in cold water with scented flowers by family members outside Nadarajan‘s home.
To rid her of bad luck, Nadarajan‘s married female relatives recited prayers and blessed her with items such as cow dung, hand-grinding stone and sacred oil lamps.
Nadarajan was also not spared the turmeric smearing and cold-bath rituals.
Five days prior to the wedding, he was asked to plant bean sprouts to symbolise that his marriage to Wenila would last several generations.
“I had to plant nine bean sprouts and use cow dung as fertiliser and use well water to water it every day,” he said, adding that the inai (henna tattoo) ceremony was plenty of fun, too.
During their big day on September 14, Nadarajan was dressed in a daboh, a traditional Chitty wedding costume with embellishments like a keris while Wenila wore a long traditional gown called biota.
As with most local traditional weddings, Wenila had her hair done up elaborately in a sanggul lintang (horizontal chignon) adorned with flowers and jewellery.
The couple was then escorted to the 186-year-old Sri Maha Mariamman Temple 50m from Nadarajan‘s home where they tied the knot to symbolise their union. By CHEN PELF YEEN
Source: http://thestar.com.my (October 10, 2008)