Home/ Blog/ Traditions

Traditions · Glossary

Indian Wedding Glossary: 27 Indian Wedding Terms, Rituals & Their Meanings

If you're planning an Indian wedding, or you've just been invited to one, you're going to hear a lot of words that don't come with a translation. Sagai, milni, mandap, sindoor. This glossary covers 27 of the most common terms couples and guests search for, plus regional ones you'll hear especially at Marwari, Rajasthani, and Punjabi weddings, explained in the order they usually happen, from the first family conversations through the days after the wedding itself.

Each entry covers what the ritual is, why it matters, and roughly when it happens, plus regional or cultural notes where they're useful. Use the quick-reference table below to scan all 27 at a glance, or jump straight to a specific term.

Want the fuller story behind these rituals, or help mapping them onto an actual wedding day schedule? See our complete guide to Indian wedding traditions and the Desi wedding timeline guide for planning a multi-day, multi-event celebration.

Traditions and their order vary by family, region, community, and denomination. This guide covers common practices, not a fixed rulebook.

What is roka?रोका

Roka is often the first formal step in an Indian wedding, the moment both families agree to the match. "Roka" means "to stop," as in stopping the search for other prospects. It's typically a small, private gathering at the bride's home, with sweets and gifts exchanged instead of rings. It usually comes before sagai, though many families now combine the two.

What is sagai?सगाई

Also known as: sagai ceremony, ring ceremony, engagement ceremony

Sagai is the engagement ceremony, held before the wedding, where the couple exchanges rings and both families formally agree to the marriage. Depending on the family, it can be an intimate gathering or a full event with its own outfits and guest list.

Good to know: sagai typically follows roka, the public counterpart to that earlier private agreement.

What is godbharai in a wedding? (Not the baby shower ritual)गोदभराई

In a wedding context, godbharai is a pre-wedding ritual practiced in some communities, like Khatri families, where the groom's family visits the bride's family with gifts. The groom's mother places a thali of clothes, jewelry, and sweets in the bride's lap as a gesture of welcome.

Good to know: godbharai is more widely recognized as a Hindu baby shower ritual for expecting mothers, a separate tradition from this wedding usage.

What is a tilak ceremony?तिलक

Also known as: tika ceremony, groom tilak ceremony, Hindu wedding tilak ceremony

The tilak (or tika) ceremony is when the bride's family visits the groom's home to formally welcome and bless him ahead of the wedding. A senior family member applies a mark of vermillion or sandalwood paste to his forehead, along with gifts, sweets, and sometimes cash.

What is Byah Haath?ब्याह हाथ

Byah Haath is a Marwari and Rajasthani pre-wedding ritual, usually held about a week before the wedding once the date is set. Women from both families gather to sing mangal geet and prepare mangodi, sweets made from lentils and jaggery, marking the informal start of preparations.

What is a thapa?थापा

In Marwari and Rajasthani weddings, the thapa is a decorated wall shrine, often featuring the swastik symbol alongside small pots and puja items, set up at the bride's or groom's home. The bride or groom bows before it, and their maternal uncle gives them shagun, a blessing gift of money, for good luck.

What is Byah Thal?ब्याह थाल

Byah thal is the ceremonial thali used across the puja rituals leading up to a Rajasthani or Marwari wedding. It typically holds coconut, sweets, sindoor, and rice, used from the invitation puja through the kitchen threshold rituals closer to the wedding.

What is haldi?हल्दी

Haldi is a pre-wedding ceremony where turmeric paste is applied to the bride and groom, traditionally as a blessing for good fortune, protection, and a healthy start to married life. It's usually held separately for each family and has become one of the liveliest, most colorful events of the wedding.

Good to know: similar ceremonies are called pithi in some Rajasthani traditions, and mayoon or ubtan in Pakistani and Muslim weddings.

What is mehendi?मेहंदी

Mehendi is the ceremony where intricate henna designs are applied to the bride's, and often the groom's, hands and feet, typically a day or two before the wedding. It's considered a symbol of good luck and love, and has grown into its own full celebration with music and dancing.

What is dholki?ढोलकी

Dholki is a lively pre-wedding music gathering common in Pakistani, Punjabi, and South Asian Muslim weddings, named after the dholak drum that drives it. Family and friends, often mostly women, sing traditional songs and dance, sometimes over several evenings, often overlapping with the mehendi night.

What is a baraat?बारात

The baraat is the groom's wedding procession, the journey he takes with family, friends, and dhol drummers to the wedding venue. Historically the groom traveled by horse or elephant; cars are just as common today. It ends when the baraat arrives and is formally welcomed at milni.

What is ghudchadhi?घुड़चढ़ी

Ghudchadhi is the ritual where the groom, often wearing a sehra (a flower veil) tied on by an elder in the sehrabandhi, mounts a decorated horse to lead the baraat to the venue. The horse is sometimes swapped for a car or elephant today, but the celebratory entrance stays the same.

What is chooda?चूड़ा

Chooda is the set of red and ivory bangles a bride's maternal uncle and aunt gift and place on her wrists, usually the morning of the wedding. Rooted in Punjabi and Sikh tradition, it's one of her key marriage symbols, purified in milk and rose water before being slid on while her eyes are covered.

Good to know: chooda is often followed by kalire, ornaments tied to the bangles that unmarried women tap over their heads for good luck.

What is milni?मिलनी

Milni means "meeting." It's the ceremony where members of the bride's and groom's families formally greet each other, usually right after the baraat arrives. Matching pairs, like father to father, exchange garlands and hugs, serving as a warm icebreaker between the two families.

What is a mandap?मंडप

Also known as: mandap in Indian weddings

The mandap is the decorated four-pillared canopy where the wedding ceremony typically takes place in Hindu weddings. It's where the couple sits with the priest and families for the rituals, including the pheras, often around a sacred fire (agni). It's generally regarded as the sacred space where the marriage is formalized.

What is juta chupai?जूता चुपाई

Also known as: juta churai, joota chori

Juta chupai, literally "hiding the shoes," is the playful ritual where the bride's sisters and friends steal the groom's shoes as he removes them to enter the mandap, and hide them until he pays a ransom in cash or gifts to get them back.

What is jaimala?जयमाला

Jaimala is the garland exchange ceremony, where the bride and groom place flower garlands around each other's necks, usually when the bride arrives at the mandap. It symbolizes the couple accepting one another and is one of the most photographed moments of the day.

What is vivah?विवाह

Also known as: vivah sanskar

Vivah is simply the Hindi word for marriage or wedding. Vivah sanskar refers to marriage as one of the traditional sanskars, or sacraments, in Hindu tradition, covering the overall framework of vows, pheras, and blessings that make a marriage official, rather than any single ritual.

What is kanyadaan?कन्यादान

Kanyadaan, literally "giving away the daughter," is the ritual in many Hindu weddings where the bride's parents place her hand in the groom's, entrusting him with her care. It's often one of the most emotional moments of the wedding.

Good to know: many families and priests today frame kanyadaan as a moment of blessing and partnership rather than a transfer of ownership.

What is a phera?फेरा

Also known as: phera ceremony, mangal phera

The pheras, or mangal pheras, are the ritual walks the couple takes around the sacred fire, usually four or seven times depending on tradition, with a vow made at each round. In Hindu tradition, this is often considered the moment the marriage becomes official, "taking pheras" is common shorthand for getting married. Our Desi wedding timeline guide shows where this fits across a multi-day celebration.

What is sindoor?सिंदूर

Sindoor is the red vermillion powder the groom applies to the bride's hair parting right after the pheras in many Hindu traditions, marking her new status as a married woman. Many married Hindu women continue applying it daily afterward, similar in spirit to wearing a wedding ring.

What is sir guthi?सीर गूठी

Also known as: seer-guthi, sindoor daan (in some regions)

Sir guthi is the Marwari and Agarwal community's version of the sindoor ritual. The groom's sister parts the bride's hair and fills it with vermillion, sometimes braiding in a mouli (sacred thread), and the bride also receives a nath, a ceremonial nose ring, from her mother-in-law.

What is a mangalsutra?मंगलसूत्र

Also known as: mangalsutra necklace, the black beads in a mangalsutra

The mangalsutra is a sacred necklace the groom ties around the bride's neck during the ceremony, usually black and gold beads with a gold pendant, that she typically wears daily afterward. The black beads are believed to protect the marriage from negative energy, while the gold represents prosperity.

What is muh dikhai?मुँह दिखाई

Muh dikhai, literally "showing the face," is a post-wedding ritual where the bride's face is formally unveiled to her husband's family, often for the first time. An elder lifts her veil and introduces her, and the family showers her with gifts and blessings.

What is pagphera?पगफेरा

Pagphera is the ritual where the newly married bride returns to her parents' home for the first time after the wedding, usually a day or two after vidaai, often escorted by her brother. The groom typically joins for part of the visit too, seeking his in-laws' blessing.

Good to know: Punjabi families often call this custom phera dalna or phere pauna.

What is a nikah?نکاح

Nikah is the Islamic marriage ceremony itself, centered on a marriage contract, the consent of both bride and groom, the mahr (a mandatory gift from groom to bride), and witnesses, usually led by an imam. It doesn't have to happen in a mosque and can be intimate or large. See our guide, What Is a Nikah?, or planning a multi-day Muslim wedding.

What is a walima?وليمة

Walima is the wedding banquet that follows the nikah, traditionally hosted by the groom's family to publicly announce and celebrate the marriage. It can happen the same day as the nikah or separately, and in many South Asian Muslim weddings, it's the biggest event of the whole wedding.

Frequently asked questions