A rope that is used to tie around the neck of the bride by the groom.Especially in hindu marriages.
5 Answers
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No equivalent in English, since no such concept exists.
Indians too haven’t yet coined a word.
The concept involves:
a twisted rope; certain number of yarns; a bride; wedding ; auspicious time; tying around the neck; knotting a reef knot by the groom; the third knot for firmness of the reef knot; the third one being customarily tied by the groom’s sister; holiness invested in the ‘thali’ by women; symbolism of ‘thali’ with the husband’s longevity; consequent concept of being a ‘sumangali’/ suvasini/ ‘soubhagyavati’.; having a golden pendant of community specification; pendant accompanied by golden beads of specific shape on either side; two such pendants one each on the cotton yarn thali and the other on a golden chain/necklace; modern trend to associate importance to pendant and having only the golden chain with pendant always around the neck.
Thali is essentially a concept in South India and Maharashtra. “kari mani sara” or a necklace of black beads, with a golden pendant, is widely in vogue in Maharashtra, parts of Karnataka and Andhra pradesh. In Tamilnadu and Kerala, cotton yarn rope is given primacy by tradition. In several communities in Kerala, only tying ‘thali’ is the essential ritual of a marriage.
There is no mention of ‘thali’ in the manuals of instructions written by sages and no mantra from any Veda is recited, till today in any marriage. Only a verse in Sanskrit of unknown origin and authorship is recited but very popular:
“Maangalyam tantunaa anena mama jeevana hetunaa;
kanThe badhnaami subhage sanjeeva sharadaam shatam”
The meaning of this is hardly understood by anyone:
‘mama jeevana hetunaa anenatantunaa (hey) subhage maangalyam badhnaami; (tvam) sharadaam shatam sanjeeva.’
The re-drawn verse contains two sentences as: With this yarn, that symbolises, my raison d’ etre, I tie all that is auspicious with you; may you live in this condition of auspiciousness for a hundred years.
The ‘mangal sutra’ word used in Hindi films, seems to have been coined for the specific purpose of writing dialogues for re-make of South Indian films. There is no such word in use nor is there such a concept in other parts of India.
With so many concepts underlying and with the cultural mooring of monogamy for life, to find English equivalent for ‘thali’ in one word or even few words is an impossible task.
The nearest one I can coin is ‘bridal sacred thread’.
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Thali Chain
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Thali is used to tie the bride to the groom for life, never to part but by death.
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Thali is a word in indian english came from hindi.
thali
n (Indian cookery) a meal consisting of several small meat or vegetable dishes accompanied by rice, bread, etc., and sometimes by a starter or a sweet
thali: plate; meal
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thali is two type-
quater plate & dish plate