Varamala

The jayamala ceremony is a well-known ritual during a Hindu wedding, where a bride and a groom exchange garlands, as an indication of acceptance of each other as their spouse, and a pledge to respect them throughout the rest of their lives.

During the Samudra Manthanam, the legend of the churning of the ocean, the newly emerged Lakshmi garlands Vishnu with her varamala of lotus flowers, accepting him to be her divine consort.

[9] In the Mahabharata, Draupadi chooses Arjuna to be her husband by garlanding him during her svayamvara.

[10] The wedding of Shiva and Parvati is also described to have occurred with the ritual of the garland exchange.

[11] A gandharva marriage in Hinduism is a non-righteous form of marriage recognised by the Manusmriti, where lovers marry by exchanging garlands, without the consent of their families or performance of rituals.