Indian wedding glossary · Wedding day rituals
What is Kalash?
Also written: Kalasha, कलश
A kalash is a metal or clay pot filled with water, topped with mango leaves and a coconut, placed at a wedding puja or in the mandap as a symbol of abundance and blessing.
- Who keeps it
- Hindu families across India.
- When
- Used from the first puja through the wedding rites to the bride's arrival at her new home.
About Kalash
What should you know about Kalash?
The kalash is worshipped at the Ganesh puja and set in the mandap, often in stacks. At griha pravesh, many brides gently tip over a kalash of rice at the threshold of their new home.
Its shape and the thread tied around its neck are part of almost every Hindu ritual.
In the order of functions
Where does Kalash come in an Indian wedding?
Used from the first puja through the wedding rites to the bride's arrival at her new home.
- Before the weddingFixing the match, the engagement, the date and the card.
- The functionsPujas, haldi, mehndi, sangeet and the family days before the wedding.
- Wedding day ritualsFrom the baraat to the pheras, nikah and anand karaj.
- After the weddingVidaai, the new home, the reception and the first visits.
Planning your own days? The free wedding function order planner puts your functions in a sensible order with dates.
On the card
What do families write on the invitation for Kalash?
Families rarely print it, but many cards carry a drawing of a kalash beside the Ganesha.
Related words
Words that go with Kalash
- Ganesh puja
Ganesh puja is the prayer to Lord Ganesha, remover of obstacles, that many Hindu families hold before any wedding function so that everything goes smoothly.
- Mandap
A mandap is the canopy, usually on four pillars, under which a Hindu wedding's main rites, such as kanyadaan and the pheras around the sacred fire, are performed.
- Griha pravesh
Griha pravesh is the welcome of the new bride into her husband's home, when she gently tips over a kalash of rice with her right foot at the threshold and steps inside.
- Havan
A havan is the sacred fire lit in the centre of the mandap; in a Hindu wedding Agni, the fire, is the divine witness to the vows, and the couple make offerings into it.
- Mandvo
Mandvo is the Gujarati word for the wedding canopy, and the mandvo or mandap mahurat is the puja when that canopy is set up and blessed before the wedding.
Questions
Kalash, answered
What is Kalash?
A kalash is a metal or clay pot filled with water, topped with mango leaves and a coconut, placed at a wedding puja or in the mandap as a symbol of abundance and blessing.
Which families celebrate Kalash?
Hindu families across India.
When does Kalash happen in the order of wedding functions?
Used from the first puja through the wedding rites to the bride's arrival at her new home.
What do families write on the invitation for Kalash?
Families rarely print it, but many cards carry a drawing of a kalash beside the Ganesha.
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