Wedding traditions of Kolkata
A city of Bengali weddings with the shankha bangle, the sindoor, the sari-draped bride and the long fish feast.
A Bengali Hindu wedding in Kolkata is full of small rites performed mostly by women, with sounds of conch shells and the ulu, a high trilling call. The families are often large and the rites run over a day and a night.
A wedding here
The bride is bathed in a ritual called gaye holud, with turmeric from the groom's side. At the wedding she is carried on a low wooden seat, the pidi, around the groom. The couple exchange garlands, the groom applies sindoor, and the bride wears a red and white bangle set of shankha and pola. On the day after, the bou bhat is a reception feast.
Where weddings happen
Family houses with a pandal, community halls in north and south Kolkata, clubs and hotels are the usual choices. The old north Kolkata houses still host weddings in the courtyard.
The season and the calendar
Weddings follow the Bengali calendar, with a main season in spring and in winter. Dates are fixed after consulting a priest, and the months of Poush and Bhadra are often avoided.
Wedding customs of Kolkata
SindoorThe vermilion applied to the bride's hair parting.
Gaye holudThe turmeric ceremony.
ShankhaThe conch shell and coral bangles worn by married women.Also part of it, and being written: Bengali Hindu wedding (The wedding with the saat paak and the subho drishti.), Bou bhat (The reception feast hosted for the new bride.), Alpona (The rice-paste designs painted on the floor for weddings.).
Communities and their weddings in Kolkata
- Bengali Hindu The saat paak, subho drishti and the sindoor khela.
- Marwari A distinct community with its own rites in the city.
- Anglo-Indian and Christian Church weddings with a reception.
- Muslim The nikah and the walima.
A wedding trail idea for Kolkata
- New Market A shopping district for saris, shoes and wedding gifts.
- Gariahat A bustling market with jewellers and sari shops.
- Bowbazar The old jewellery quarter.
- Kumartuli The potters' quarter where decorative figures are made.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, venues and wedding-season dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Shankha: Salil Kumar Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Gaye holud: Arr4, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Sindoor: Masum-al-hasan, CC BY-SA 3.0, source