Women Apply Haldi to Baba Lat Bhairav Ahead of Deity's Wedding on 26 September

Women dressed in yellow smeared turmeric on the idol of Baba Lat Bhairav on Thursday night as the deity's wedding festivities in Kashi moved into the haldi ritual. The wedding itself will be celebrated on Saturday, 26 September.

The celebrations began with the tilak ceremony on 23 September. Thursday night was the haldi, and mehndi was due to be applied to the deity on Friday.

The haldi utsav was organised by the Shri Kapal Bhairav alias Lat Bhairav Prabandhak Samiti. A large number of women from the area reached Baba's darbar in yellow clothes and applied turmeric paste to the vigrah of Baba Shri Lat Bhairav.

Committee president Rohit Jaiswal said the turmeric offered to the deity was then distributed as prasad among the women and young girls present. During the ritual, young women prayed for a husband of their choice, while married women sought the blessing of an unbroken married life.

The programme opened with a Ganesh vandana by a troupe of folk singers, accompanied by supporting musicians. After that came one mangal geet after another, the traditional songs sung at weddings.

Media in-charge Sullivan Agrahari said the songs were sung to the harmonium, the beat of the dholak and the ring of manjiras. The women danced to the traditional wedding songs, and the singing and dancing went on late into the night. Older women led the music.

With the women's presence and energy, the darbar looked like a family wedding in full swing.

Among those who took part in the puja were Tara Jaiswal, Beena Jaiswal, Jyoti Devi, Srishti Verma, Aroma Jaiswal, Priyanka Jaiswal, Poonam Singh, Mala Yadav, Sadhana Gupta and Babita Kushwaha.

Through the traditional wedding songs and rituals, the women kept old customs going. The festivities follow the same sequence as a household wedding in Banaras: tilak first, then haldi, then mehndi, and finally the wedding.

The committee's full name, Shri Kapal Bhairav alias Lat Bhairav Prabandhak Samiti, reflects that the deity is also known as Kapal Bhairav. The wedding rituals are held at the darbar and draw women from the surrounding localities.

With the tilak and haldi done and the mehndi following on Friday, the committee is now preparing for the main wedding celebration on Saturday. The wedding day completes a sequence of rituals that started on Wednesday with the tilak.

For the women who came on Thursday night, the turmeric prasad from Baba's vigrah was what they carried home, two days before the wedding.