Tag Archives: karma

Hindu Wedding

Hindu Wedding (Bael Karma) – Series 2

A set of Bael Karma – wedding video images from Bhutan.

Format: DV 720×576

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In Hinduism, the Bael tree is very sacred, used in worship of the God Shiva.

A Bael karma is a ceremony in which pre-adolescent Hindu girls are ‘married’ to a bael fruit, which is a symbol of the god Shiva, ensuring that the girl becomes and remains fertile.

It is believed that if the girl’s husband dies later in her life, she is not considered a widow because she is married to Shiva and so already has a husband that is believed to be still alive. As a widow she would not be permitted to wear colour, make-up or jewellery and often would have a diminished position in society or may be expected to offer herself on the funeral pyre of her disease husband.

In Bhutan the Pradhan caste follow the tradition of Bael karma for girls which takes the form of a full marriage ceremony performed on an auspicious date by the Brahmin.

Hindu Wedding

Hindu Wedding (Bael Karma) – Series 1

A set of Bael Karma – wedding video images from Bhutan.

Format: DV 720×576

[wp_cart:Hindu Wedding (Bael Karma) – Series 1:price:0:end]

In Hinduism, the Bael tree is very sacred, used in worship of the God Shiva.

A Bael karma is a ceremony in which pre-adolescent Hindu girls are ‘married’ to a bael fruit, which is a symbol of the god Shiva, ensuring that the girl becomes and remains fertile.

It is believed that if the girl’s husband dies later in her life, she is not considered a widow because she is married to Shiva and so already has a husband that is believed to be still alive. As a widow she would not be permitted to wear colour, make-up or jewellery and often would have a diminished position in society or may be expected to offer herself on the funeral pyre of her disease husband.

In Bhutan the Pradhan caste follow the tradition of Bael karma for girls which takes the form of a full marriage ceremony performed on an auspicious date by the Brahmin.

Prayer Wheels

Prayer Wheel – Series 9

Bhutanese prayer wheels from a set of mystical videos.

Format: DV 720×576

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The earliest recorded prayer wheels was written by a Chinese pilgrim around 400 CE.The prayer wheel is a cylindrical ‘wheel’ on a spindle made from metal, wood, stone,leather, or even coarse cotton. Traditionally, the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum is written in Sanskrit externally on the wheel. The six symbols roughly translate to:

Om         Generosity

Ma         Ethics

Ni            Patience

Pad        Diligence

Me         Renunciation

Hum      Wisdom

It is said that prayer wheels are used to purify negativities such as bad karma and to accumulate wisdom and merit or good karma. The idea of spinning mantras comes from practices where the practitioner visualizes mantras revolving around the nadis and especially around the meridian chakras such as the heart and crown.