The Baraat

The baraat is a public procession by the groom – who is mounted on an elephant or a horse or in a fancy car -- to the site of the wedding. The groom is escorted by friends and family who express their approval symbolically by dancing their way to a place where the two sets of parents meet.

Accompanied by the rhythm of the dhol and, often, the contemporary beats of Bollywood music, the groom is greeted, garlanded and anointed. This short journey begins the symbolic joining of two families.