Clothes Washing And Wedding Celebrations At A Ghat In Udaipur, Rajasthan

Washing Clothes - Udaipur
Washing Clothes - Udaipur

Down the hill from the ‘haveli’ (a large traditional house converted to a guesthouse) where we are staying here in Udaipur, the banks of Lake Pichola that runs through the old city have been built out into ‘ghats’ or steps and landings that lead down to the water’s edge.

Washing At A Dhobi Ghat - Udaipur
Washing At A Dhobi Ghat - Udaipur

At the bottom of the steps, women wash their clothes every day. Each woman comes balancing her tub of washing on her head, and brings with her a wooden paddle of sorts with which she will pound the dirt from the clothes during the washing.

Wedding Celebrations
The ghat is also the site for celebrating major life events. And since this time of the year is the marriage season, it seems that almost daily a wedding party celebrating a forthcoming marriage comes down to the ghat in the late mornings or early afternoons.

Celebration - Udaipur
Celebration - Udaipur

Preceded first by a marching band of sorts (played by musicians from the caste that performs music), the procession today included the bride who was totally veiled in white, wearing many gleaming bangles on her arms; the groom with a deep-red turban and Indian jacket; and the groom’s parents and other assorted close relations and friends who were carrying a large number of empty metal pots, some pots full of sprouting green wheat, fresh coconuts, as well as beads and string for casting.

The large number of women in the procession wore saris in shades of vermillion, orange, raspberry, turquoise, and other colors.

The purpose of the celebration is to bring good luck to the bride and groom who will marry shortly. Water is taken from the lake and placed in the metal pots where it is mixed with water brought back from the sacred River Ganges.

Ideally, the couple and the guests would travel to the Ganges. However, where the distance is far and that is not possible, the water from the Ganges is brought by a couple who are advanced in years and for whom a trip to the sacred river is the climax of a full life. Back home, the water from the Ganges is mixed with the water from the local source – in this case, Lake Pichola.

Along with the wedding guests, there were the usual roaming bullocks, cows, and dogs who weave through the area as they mingle with whatever groups of people are congregated there.

Today I also saw the following: On one side, there was a large group of women from the wedding celebration standing in the shade of the large arch where one enters the area of the ghat. A short way down on the elevated concrete, three bullocks were enjoying one another’s company, clustered as well in the shade.

Wedding Guests - Udaipur
Wedding Guests - Udaipur

This cohabitation of space by humans and animals in urban areas is the norm in India, a fact which my Western brain finds fascinating and strange.

An Indian who was kindly explaining the ceremony to me said the bride is probably about 18 years old. David and I enjoyed how hospitable her party was to foreigners like ourselves and to other visitors to the ghat.

For like the bullocks who lolled about the ghat’s platform, we too were most welcome to observe this important and joyous occasion.