The Evolution of “Kalyan Mandap”

When I was a teenager, I heard something called Kalyan Mandap. I did not understand what’s that. I knew that weddings were done at home, temples, churches and at the court. Then I came to know that those days people started organizing weddings at a place (hall) called Kalyan Mandap. I did not understand why it’s called as Kalyan Mandap? Why not Wedding Hall or something in Odia? Then I thought, “OK, so people will come here and bless (kalyana in Odia) the newlyweds, so people call this as Kalyan Mandap“.

Then I heard the name of another place, called as Kalyani Mandap. Then I thought “This guy, the owner of this party hall did not understand the essence of blessings (kalyana) and named the place as someone named Kalyani in his family”. But I was not sure. I also thought that the person might be pronouncing the name incorrectly as Kalyani Mandap, but the name of the place is not other than Kalyan Mandap. Then few other names joined the league: Mangala Kalyan Mandap, Tarini Kalyan Mandap etc. The few other simplified names joined the league: Mangala Mandap, Tarini Mandap etc. They removed the word kalyana from their name. Then I confirmed, “OK, these guys did not get the blessings part! So removed kalyana from their name”.

When I started living in Chennai during my first job, I started learning very few Tamil words. Then I realized that Kalyanam is the Tamil word for wedding. They get married at a temple or at a Kalyanam Mandapam. So, when people in Odisha (I think the Bhubaneswar Municipality Corporation built few first in Odisha) replicated Kalyanam Mandapam in Odisha, they named the hall as Kalyana Mandapa or Kalyan Mandap, without understanding what the name means. They should have named it as Bibaha Mandapa. So, as the BMC is planning to set up 19 additional party halls in the city, they should name these as Bibaha Mandapa, not Kalyan Mandap.