Aanandham aanandham aanandhame lyrics

This song is sung after the mangalya dharanam is complete.

ஆனந்தம் ஆனந்தம் ஆனந்தமே
பரமானந்தம் ஆனந்தம் ஆனந்தமே

ஸ்ரீ ராமனும் மணமகன் ஆனாரே
நம்ம ஜானகி மணமகள் ஆனாளே

வந்தவர்க்கும் பார்த்தவர்க்கும் ஆனந்தம் (2)
சீதைக்கும் ராமனுக்கும் ஆனந்தம் (2)

நாம் செய்த பூஜா பலமும்
இன்றே பலித்ததம்மா  (ஆனந்தம் )


Aanandham Aanandham Aanandhame
Param Aanandham Aanandham Aanandhame

Sri Ramanum Manamagahan Aanaare
Namma Janaki Manamaghal Aanale

Vandhavarkkum Paarthavarkkum Aanandham
Seethaikkum Ramanukkum Aanandham

Naam seiytha Pooja Palamum
Indre Palithadhama - Aanandham.

Here is a rendition by Sudha Raghunathan

Vaarum my dear nadha song

This is a custom nalangu song sung by the girl during Nalangu in reply to the vaadi vaadi song

Vaarum my dear naadha
Nalanguku tharum Beautiful padham (2)

Madras park fair-il madhana ummai kondu
My father motherku solli marriage settle seidhen (vaarum)

town-il special bungalow vaanga venum
muzhudhum electric fittings aagave hall-il
sofa table spring kattilgaludan
Nilaikannadi beero vendum

Hindu Express and Madras Mail
Times of India Mukta bazaar
paper dhinamum varavazhaithe vegu shokkai
padikka vendum

Aanandha bhavan naam sella vendum
special-il tiffin-um kolla vendum
naazhigal aayitru paadham tharum my dear prana nesane..

Pen parthal aka meeting the girl

Once you are past the horoscope matches, and the eligibility checks, you then get to the stage of visiting the girl's family.

This custom has changed a lot from yester-years, now it is a matter of the boy meeting the girl at some cafe and exchanging views about marriage, on topics of mutual interest, and what-not, and deciding if they are the right match.

The traditional pen parthal involves the boy's family and his close relatives visiting the girl's house. The girl's family prepares a sweet and a snack to welcome the boy's family. The idea behind this procedure was to understand each other's family well, and to discuss things in their entirety. For example, what the family customs are, and their practices, their relatives, heredity etc are discussed to decide on the compatibility. Sometimes these things are important because, if the girl's family happens to be modern and the boy's family happens to be way too traditional, there may be difficulties in the girl adapting to the boy's family. To iron out these problems, the pen parthal occasion serves as a good platform for initiation of a wedding prospect.

Another aspect in this occasion is the boy talking to the girl in private. Actually this is what has evolved into the cafe meeting of the current century. This is more about understanding each other and weighing personalities between the boy and the girl.

Some families decide and let know each other later after this ceremony, and some families make a decision immediately and exchange mutual consent. Since this ceremony is the stepping stone of a marriage, it is given its due importance.

The hunt for the horoscope!

Now, you have decided that your son or daughter is ready for marriage, and you either have a horoscope or you have to get the horoscope done. Hmm, if you don't have the horoscope on hand, the ideal way is to either get a good astrologer to draft one for your son, or drop into the nearby computer center that advertises "You can get horoscopes here", and get the current superpower to generate on based on the date of birth, time and place of birth of your kid.

Why do we need a horoscope anyway? There are a few specific things about a person's birth
1. Gotram
2. Nakshatram aka star
3. Planetary positions

The Gotram factor comes from predecessors. It is said that each person is a descendant of a sage from centuries ago. There are 20 gotrams, and they are "Aatreya, Agastya, Bhadarayana, Bharadwaja, Gargya, Harita, Kanva, Kashyapa, Kowndinya, Kowsika, Kutsa, Mowdkalya, Naitruvakaasyapa, Paraasara, Sandilya, Shatamarshana, Srivatsa, Sunkriti, Vatula and Viswamitra". I am sure most of us know some of these rishis, Agastya being a sure shot. So the first condition for prospective match is that the gotrams should not be the same. For example, if both the boy and the girl are from Bharadwaja gotram, they are seen as from the same lineage, and hence become brother and sister.

The Nakshatram aka star is the second factor that is considered. There are 27 stars in the horoscope world (thankfully not all the millions in the sky!). Starting from Ashwini and ending with Revathi, these stars have their compatibility matrices. For example, Uthiram isn't compatible with Chittirai, nor is Kettai friendly with itself (same goes for any star). Some stars are by default branded in terms of marriage - for example, moolam in a girl is generally seen as adverse if both parents of the boy are alive, but if only one of them is alive, then it is flagged green. One might ask if all these have any relevance, but with no bias to either side, I can safely say I have seen marriages involving the same stars fail badly. However, I am no expert on these and these are purely for information.

Planetary positions is a complex topic, and it is here people calculate factors such as yogam, dosham, dasai etc. The compatibility of the boy and girl  (as shown by their horoscopes) is determined under various factors such as temperament, mutual love, strength of the marital bond, financial prosperity after marriage, progeny, sexual compatibility etc. some of which are assigned greater weightages. A good match is one in which at least 70% score is obtained. This is called "poruththam parthal".

After all these compatibility tests are done, and the family background, earning potential, educational background etc checks (based on relevance) are complete, the families go to the next important step called "Pen parthal". Oh yes, before that, the photographs of the girl and the boy are exchanged along with the horoscope, and the overall consent is usually based on both the horoscope and the photograph :)