Jaipur: Almost two decades after the royal wedding of princess Chitrangana of Gwalior to prince of Kashmir Vikramaditya Singh, the spectacle was back in full glory on Thursday at the Rambagh Palace here.
Shivraj Singh, crown prince of Jodhpur, married Gayatri Kumari of Askote in Uttarakhand amid much fanfare.
Shivraj Singh, 31, was clad in a glittering robe, achkan, tailored from custom-made fabric. The robe was of a typical traditional Jodhpuri design that was especially revived for the occasion. Customary gold buttons that have been in the family for generations were used on the robe. Across his waist was the traditional cummerbund buckled with the royal crest.
There was a craze for cummerbunds and even elder members of the baraat, or groom's procession, were seen tying the silk clothes around their waist. The groom was wearing the traditional saffron turban, decorated with jewellery like "sarpech" made of dimonds and precious stones like emerald, rubies and also strings of pearls.
The procession rendered colour to the royal event with the traditional Rajput finery — achkans, churidars, breeches, swords, and cummerbunds.
At 5:30am the spectacular procession with an elephant at the head followed by Rajasthani folk singers of the Manganiyar and Langa traditions from the desert, started. There were horses from the royal stables.
Protocol
The cavalcade carried the royal flag and the insignia. Walking right behind the cavalcade was Gaj Singh, the king, closely followed by other royals. The old order of Jodhpur royalty was followed for protocol.
Shivraj Singh, carried in a historic buggy brought all the way from Jodhpur, followed. Besides the driver, there was only one attendant in the buggy accompanying Shivraj. Shivraj kept waving back to the guests who greeted him.
The reception party from the bride's side, headed by her father Bhanuraj Singh Pal, welcomed the procession.
When the ritualistic circling of the flame took place, in presence of priests from Jodhpur, only close friends and relations of Shivraj Singh were present.
The 350-member baraat team had come by a special train on Thursday from Jodhpur. In the train, the members were treated to musical numbers and folk songs.
Among the dignitaries were Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Digvijay Singh, former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, former union minister Jaswant Singh, and members of former royal families of Kapurthala, Patiala, Alwar a well as King Wangchuk of Bhutan.
Several industrialists including Kumar Manglam Birla, Deepak Parekh, Gautam Singhania, Swati Piramal and Anil Agarwal were spotted among the guests.
