Towards the close of the evening, all this preparation being fulfilled, the marriage portion is set in order to accompany the bride.  The guests make their own amusements for the day; the mother is too much occupied with her daughter’s affairs to give much of her time or attention to them; nor do they expect it, for they all know by experience the nature of a mother’s duties at such an interesting period.

The bridegroom’s house is nearly in the same state of bustle as the bride’s, though of a very different, description, as the preparing for the reception of a bride is an event of vast importance in the opinion of a Mussulmaun.  The gentlemen assemble in the evening, and are regaled with sherbet and the hookha, and entertained with the nuutch-singing and fireworks until the appointed hour for setting out in the procession to fetch the bride to her new home.

The procession is on a grand scale; every friend or acquaintance, together with their elephants, are pressed into the service of the bridegroom on this night of Baarraat.  The young man himself is mounted on a handsome charger, the legs, tail, and mane of which are dyed with mayndhie, whilst the ornamental furniture of the horse is splendid with spangles and embroidery.  The dress of the bridegroom is of gold-cloth, richly trimmed with a turban to correspond, to the top of which is fastened an immense bunch of silver trimming, that falls over his face to his waist, and answers the purpose of a veil,[21] (this is in strict keeping with the Hindoo custom at their marriage processions).  A select few of the females from the bridegroom’s house attend in his train to bring home the bride, accompanied by innumerable torches, with bands of music, soldiers, and servants, to give effect to the procession.  On their arrival at the gate of the bride’s residence, the gentlemen are introduced to the father’s apartments, where fireworks, music, and singing, occupy their time and attention until the hour for departure arrives.

The marriage ceremony is performed in the presence of witnesses, although the bride is not seen by any of the males at the time, not even by her husband, until they have been lawfully united according to the common form.

In the centre of the hall, in the zeenahnah, a tuckht (platform) six feet square is placed, on which the musnud of gold brocade is set.  This is the bride’s seat when dressed for her nuptials; she is surrounded by ladies who bear witness to the marriage ceremony.  The purdahs are let down, and the Maulvee, the bridegroom, the two fathers, and a few male friends are introduced to the zeenahnah court-yard, with a flourish of trumpets and deafening sounds of drums.  They advance with much gravity towards the purdahs, and arrange themselves close to this slender partition between the two sexes.