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Ritual of Placing the Bride's Feet on the Grinding Stone

The ceremony or the ritual of placing the bride's feet on the grinding stone is a very important ceremony in the Hindu weddings that place in India. All most all the Hindu weddings especially in the South of India this is a must ritual to be performed. After the ceremony of Sapthapadi the bridegroom helps the bride in treading on a grindstone by holding the bride's left foot toe on a grindstone kept on the right side of the fire and then slips the silver rings or the metti on her toes.

Then the married couple are made to see the Dhruva Nakshatra or Pole Star, the one who attained immortality through single-minded devotion and perseverance and also the "Arundhathi Nakshatra", as the ideal wife - the embodiment of charity and virtue.

Ritual is Mainly Performed to Symbolize Righteousness

-Arundhathi is none other but the wife of the great Maharishi Vasistha who is considered to be a typical example of an ideal wife and thus her blessings are seeked for the newly married couple. This ritual is mainly performed to symbolize that such righteousness are to be an example for the entire marital life. The manthras which is denoted at this time says "Mount up this stone. Let thy mind be rock-firm, unperturbed, by the trials and tribulations of life".