No more money garlands to honor Lakshmi

[Guest guest]

Garlanded Grooms Face Defrocking

But Indian Bank's Bid to Spare Small Bills

Is Poor Bet to Gain Currency at Weddings

By Vibhuti Agarwal

The Wall Street Journal

March 14, 2008

New Delhi

 

Gifts of money have a special place in Indian custom:

Grooms frequently are garlanded with a string of small bills

to wish them prosperity and to evoke the spirit of Lakshmi,

the Hindu goddess of wealth.

 

But if India's central bank has its way, Indian weddings

could be a bit poorer in the future.

 

The Reserve Bank of India earlier this week issued a

statement urging Indians to refrain from activities that

deface the bank notes and shorten their life. It asked

members of public to stop misusing currency notes for

stitching wedding garlands, decorating the place where

weddings take place (known as a pandal), or " for showering

on personalities at social events. "

 

The central bank added that it has been " taking all measures

to supply clean banknotes across the country and has urged

members of the public to contribute their mite to its efforts. "

 

The currency most commonly used for garlands and money

showers is the 10 rupee note, an orange and brown piece of

paper with an image of Mohandas K. Gandhi on one side

and an elephant, a tiger and a rhinoceros on the reverse. It is

worth approximately 25 U.S. cents.

 

The central bank's request may fall on deaf ears. Presenting

garlands of notes " is part of the ritual to showcase the

family's happiness, " says Govind, the priest at a Hindu

temple in New Delhi.

 

Sanjay Srivastava, 31 years old and the owner of a small

provisions store in a local New Delhi market, is getting

married in two weeks. He belongs to a middle-class Sikh

family and was out shopping yesterday for the garland that

his elder sister will place around his neck while he sits on a

white horse waiting to meet his wife-to-be.

 

" Wearing garlands weaved out of currency notes is an honor

equivalent to offering money in front of gods and

goddesses, " he says.

 

The discouragement of notes as adornments follows the

central bank's earlier attempts to protect its money supply.

In January 1999, the Reserve Bank introduced the " Clean

Note Policy " 2 for faster disposal of soiled and mutilated

notes.

 

See the URL below for photos of the garlands:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120550264302036655.html

 

For more info

http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/PressRelease/PDFs/83436.pdf

http://www.rbi.org.in/currency/press/rbi-1220-2002.html