Sehra (headdress)

Indian groom in traditional attire, with Sherwani and Sehra

For 1963, V. Shantaram film, see Sehra (film).

A Sehra (Bengali: শেহরি, Hindi: सेहरा, Urdu: سہرا‎) is a headdress worn by the groom during Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi weddings. This decorative groom’s veil can be made either out of flowers or beads and is tied to the groom’s turban or Pagdi.

The sehra has 2 main purposes:

They are intended to ward off the evil eye. Secondly, the bride and groom are not supposed to see each other before their wedding ceremony.

Therefore, a sehra solved the purpose of hiding the groom’s face, whereas the bride covered her face with a ghunghat or pallu. They are more prominently worn in North India than in other parts of the country.

History and origin

It originates from Mughal Muslim culture in the Northern part of the Indian Subcontinent wherein white flower strings were tied to the turban or Pagdi and suspended to cover the groom’s face, just like the bridal ‘Ghoonghat’ or veil. For the Sikh grooms, this tradition dates back to the times of Guru Govind Singh who added flower strands to the Pagdi or turban which added an element of pride and prestige, adopted from the practices of Punjabi Muslims. Amongst Muslims the sehra has been patronized and imbibed in the Islamic culture since the Mughal era where kings wore elaborate looking head gears encrusted with precious pearls and stones during their weddings. In fact, the word ‘Sehra’ literally means a poem sung during a ‘nikah’ or in other words the wedding ceremony in the Islamic culture.

Sehrabandi

The act of tying the sehra around the groom's head right before he leaves for the bride's house is called "Sehra Bandi". Typically the groom's sisters, female cousins, Bhabhi or sister-in-law are the essential performers of Sehra Bandi. In the case of multiple sisters or female relatives, each woman takes a turn to perform the ritual one by one. While carrying out this whole custom, all the women sing traditional wedding songs. Usually, women in the family perform the ritual in a hierarchical order based on the relation with the groom. For example, it begins with the groom's mother, the oldest sister, younger sister, oldest sister-in-law and so on.

Types of sehra

Usually sehras are of two main types. The traditional sehra was made of flowers however nowadays beaded sehras are equally popular. A fresh floral sehra is the traditional sehra which is made up of flowers. A bejewelled sehra is made up of fancy jewels, stones and pearls.