Rite 10 · The wedding day
Baraat
The groom comes for the bride with his procession — a brass band ahead, and the Chholia whirling with sword and shield. From a gathering spot nearby the bride's youngest brother is borne in on the doli, the groom following on a horse, and the two sides at last meet.
The whole weddingBaraat · बारात
Rite 10 of 19Known locally as
Baraat
/ baa·raat / बारात
the procession — the groom's party, led in Kumaon by the Chholia sword-dancers; the groom himself the byola.
What it is
The groom's wedding procession, setting out from his village to the bride's, with a brass band, dancing relatives, and the Chholia at its head.
Why it's done
The baraat is the groom arriving like a king to claim his bride. The Chholia — a martial sword-and-shield dance unique to these hills — leads it to guard the procession and drive off ill fortune with the clash of steel.
How it unfolds
From a gathering spot near the home, the bride's youngest brother is carried in on the doli to lead the party in; the crowned groom follows on a horse, the band plays, and the Chholia spin and spar with real swords down the length of the road.
Who needs to be there
The groom and his entire side — family, friends, the village, the musicians and the dancers.
What's special — and how we keep it
The Chholia dance is fading across Kumaon — to see it lead a real baraat is rare now. We remember the sound of it: the band, the drums, and the ring of the swords.
Her side, and his
The bride's side
Her side does not travel. They wait at home, readying the welcome — the lamps, the urns, the feet-washing — for a party they have not yet laid eyes on.
The groom's side
Wholly the groom's. His whole side sets out as the procession, the byola crowned at its head, the village dancing the road behind him.
Pandit ji, the mantra & the song Draft
Pandit ji's part
The groom's family Pandit ji often rides with the baraat, to meet the bride's Pandit ji at her door and, from there, work as one.
The mangal geet
The groom's women sing the going-forth songs as the baraat sets out — and the bride's, the welcome songs, as it nears.
In photographs
8 frames from this rite, in the order they happened.
Photographs in association with Balaji Photographer — a studio out of Barechhina, on the Almora–Pithoragarh highway.