The Science Behind Unique Indian Rituals

Eastern weddings are rich in rituals. Read about the meaning of some of them.
The essence of Indian weddings is the circumambulation of the couple around fire or Lord Agni, known as pheras in Hindi. Have you heard of couples taking 4 pheras, instead of the mandatory 7? There is a scientific explanation for this. This is not all. There is weirder stuff out there about marriages, which is probably lesser known. And there is a scientific explanation for each of them!

Four pheras instead of seven pheras
The three most important marriage rituals are Ghurchadi, Varmala and Pheras. All three have a scientific base, depicting the transformation of a person from childhood to adulthood. The female horse (Ghodi) in mythology represents the five senses in the body and sitting on the Ghodi and pulling/ tightening of the rope signify controlling our five senses. So in a gist it means that once you tighten your five senses, your phase of behaving like a child is over and it’s time to act with responsibly towards yourself and your wife-to-be.
Secondly the Varmala ceremony represents the ability to learn how to bow in front of the society and let go of one’s ego.
And lastly, each of the four pheras signifies a person’s decision to follow the very purpose of his life, i.e. Dharm, Artha, Kama and Moksha. From Vedic point-of-view, these four pheras are the most important and over a period of time, they have extended to become seven pheras.
These four purposes of life also called the Purushartha, imply a person’s ability to righteously fulfill one’s desires and attain inner happiness. Here Dharma means to hold your righteousness, Artha means to earn, Kama means desires and Moksha means inner happiness.
Marriage is the transformation of a child into an adult. A person is supposed to follow the path of righteousness to the one he’s been bound by holy matrimony. It also coincides with the second ashrama or phase of life to earn and this earning should be based on righteousness. This is also the phase of fulfilling one’s desires but that fulfillment should be in such a way that every desire ends up with inner happiness or connects one to one’s consciousness.