Talk:Hindu wedding

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[edit] Hindi names

I don't get it, why remove the Hindi names? As long as we have the english explanation/translation, the Hindi names add authenticity. Did you remove them because we shouldn't favor Hindi over other languages that practice Hinduism? I don't know what to do about that since we can't add every languages word for each item, but since Hindi is the most common language spoken by Hindus, I think we should include them - Taxman ^Talk 12:36, July 15, 2005 (UTC)

OK, the problem is that a Hindu wedding is too complicated to be simply described in two paragraphs. No tradition/ritual exists in all kinds of Hindu weddings; I'm a Hindu, and have lived in India for 20+ years, but have *never* heard of any of the terms mentioned in the article that I removed. Adding Hindi terms for rituals that only Malayalis practise is absurd; the word would probably exist only in Malayalam anyway. Adding terms like baraat in Hindi is fine though, if accompanied by a description of which communities/regions it pertains to. For rituals that exist in all Hindu traditions, Sanskrit is arguably the best choice. I'd recommend Sanskrit terms as being more traditional and authentic than Hindi terms for such terms. Ambarish 17:48, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

Well you're certainly a better one to improve the article than I. Yes, I know it needs a lot more to explain the variations, but I didn't want to add too much without good references, and I found very few in english (and none so far of high quality), the only language I know well. I didn't want to write much just from what I knew because that's not very verifiable which is important. The article needs good sources and to cite them. I've only been to three Hindu weddings, all in the US. One between a Panjabi and an American, one Gujarati/Panjabi and one Panjabi/Telagu (Is that an ethnic group too? The family was from AP in any case). Almost all Hindu weddings here have a program outlining the ceremonies. The three I saw were primarily in English with the names also in what I thought was Hindi. Maybe they were Sanskrit, but certainly they were romanized. I'll try to find one of them. I don't know which would be the ritual you referred to as only being practiced by Malayali's though. Certainly the article should make it clear that there is a great variety in the traditions, and I tried to do that with this small start, please make that clearer if you think I didn't. If you don't have a chance to expand the article, hopefully someone else will, to avoid me doing a hack job at it. I guess using Sanskrit does make a lot more sense for those, after thinking about it, but of course, I don't know the which words are in Sanskrit unless someone tells me. - Taxman ^Talk 19:20, July 15, 2005 (UTC)

I will work on it whenever I do have the time; in the meantime, I think it would be great if anyone contributes to it; after all, it's a lot easier for me (or anyone else) to correct mistakes and add incremental stuff that to write entire sections. Please feel free to add whatever it is you come across. In short, be bold, and I shall be too! P.S. I actually don't know enough about Malayalis myself; I'm not one, and I just meant it as an example. I do know though about similar customs for even particular sub-communities of people. For instance, among Brahmins from the state of Tamil Nadu, there are 3-4 sub-sects, each of whose wedding rituals is different. Complicated? Yes. Fascinating? Yes! Ambarish 10:42, 16 July 2005 (UTC)