A Sikh Wedding in Exeter
From the collection of
From the collection of
A Sikh couple celebrates blissful union.
Anand Karaj meaning Blissful Event is the name given to the Sikh wedding ceremony. The groom in ceremonial costume arrives on horseback carrying a kirpan or sword accompanied by baraatis or members of the groom's family. The procession may be preceded by a milni where both families meet and gifts and sweets are exchanged. This wedding takes place in the Gurdwara or Sikh Temple in Exeter in the holy presence of the Sikh scriptures of Guru Granth Sahib.
Sikh hymns known as Shabads are sung and the couple sit side by side. They seek the blessing of the Wondrous Giver of Knowledge Waheguru for the Anand marriage. The officiator reads the four lavan or stanzas and the groom leads the bride around the Guru Granth Sahib. Living as a householder is respected in Guru Nanak's society and men and women's equality is enshrined in the teachings of the scriptures of Guru Granth Sahib.
From local news to feature film, through home movies and TV documentaries, this collection showcases South Asian Britons in front of and behind the camera. The contribution of colonial troops is illuminated through the earliest newsreels, while hardhitting current affairs programmes highlight the struggles faced in the 1960s, 1970s and beyond. Public information films produced for South Asian audiences feature alongside Hindi-language films made in Britain and interviews with prominent Asian-British figures. A bold wave of British Asian filmmaking in the 1990s is represented through early works by the likes of Gurinder Chadha and Asif Kapadia.