Rare Culture: Heard of Rajasthani Wedding Graffiti?

I saw the first one and was flabbergasted. As I moved on, I saw another and then another!

 

That's as rare as it gets. I was in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, earlier this year with my bunch of fellow travel writers and enthusiastic photographers for a weekend getaway. While walking down the narrow lanes and bylanes of the Golden City of India, I saw a wedding graffiti and thought it was someone’s quirk. But then came many more different ones painstakingly painted right next to the entrances of several houses. My attention was caught. I wasn’t judging the sanity of the graffiti anymore. In fact, I was impressed and intrigued to know more.

Curious, I thought of finding out about this rare tradition and spoke to a few locals, including a few camelwallahs.

Wedding Graffiti, Eh!

The wedding world may have advanced from sending out printed wedding invitations to e-cards and dedicated Facebook pages to websites asking you to register your participation in the ceremonies. But Jaisalmer chooses to remain different. And in a good way, if you ask me! This beautiful desert destination continues to hold dear its old, rare and beautiful tradition of painting wedding invitations on the walls of their houses.

Band, Baaja, Ganpati!

Along with the names of the bride and the groom, the date of the ceremony and an image of Lord Ganesha, the invite is painted on the front wall of the house, a week before the wedding bells ring. Interestingly, the painted invitation remains forever on the wall, unless there is another marriage happening in the family. It is then that the old marriage graffiti is replaced with the new one.
 

 

Locals believe that since Jaisalmer is a small town and everyone knows everyone, wedding graffiti is the easiest possible way to invite one and all. It is expected that the neighbours living in the same lane would read the painted marriage announcement and pass on the message to others staying elsewhere. No wonder, there are 2,000 to 3,000 baraatis in Jaisalmeri weddings!

Rare, Ever & Forever!

You’d be surprised to know that it’s not just the previous generation that is keen to preserve this tradition that has been in practice since the pre-independence era. The young generation too feels that there is a certain charm attached to this vibrant form of wall and wedding art. Therefore, they ensure that this remains an integral part of their culture.

For someone like me who gets bored very easily (especially during sightseeing expeditions), it was amazing how I paused outside every house in Jaisalmer to go through these beautifully done wedding wall arts. Infused with great interest, I also managed to notice the minor differences in the one-liners used along with the graffiti (being a writer, can’t help it).

This rare tradition wrapped with the simplicity and emotions of the Rajasthani people touched my heart. How I wish, I could do something similar when I get married (mom dad are you listening?)!