Damayanti prays to gods to recognize Nala

Svayamvara ( sa, स्वयंवर, svayaṃvara, translit-std=IAST), in ancient

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, was a method of marriage in which a woman chose a man as her husband from a group of suitors. In this context, in Sanskrit means '

self The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhoo ...

' and means 'groom'. The bride wishing to marry would select an auspicious time and venue and then broadcast her intentions. Kings typically sent messengers to outside lands, while commoners simply spread the news within the local community. On the appointed day, suitors would gather at the venue and declare their qualifications. The bride would place a garland on the man of her choice and a marriage ceremony was held immediately.

Indian literature

Sīta

In the

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

epic ''

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

'', King Janaka proclaimed that

Sita Sita (; ) also called as Janaki and Vaidehi is a Hindu goddess and the female protagonist of the Hindu epic, ''Ramayana''. She is the consort of Rama, the avatar of the god Vishnu, and is regarded as a form of Vishnu's consort, Lakshmi. She ...

would be wed to the man who could lift and string the

Shiva Dhanush The Pinaka ( sa, पिनाक, pínāka) is the celestial bow of the Hindu destroyer deity, Shiva. In popular legend, he is believed to have employed this bow in his avatar as Tripurantaka to annihilate the three cities of Mayasura, known a ...

(

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...

's bow), calling this feat , meaning the cost to be paid by a suitor. Sita married

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

, the only man strong enough to lift and string the bow.

Kunti

King

Kuntibhoja The ''Mahabharata'' is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India; it was composed by the sage Vyasa. The most important characters of ''Mahabharata'' can be said to include: Krishna; the Pandavas Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakul ...

arranged a svayamvara for his adopted daughter Kunti in the Hindu epic ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

''. Many kings and princes from the Aryan region attended her svayamvara. Among them was Pandu, the king of Hastinapura. Kunti chose Pandu as her husband.

Draupadī

The Swayamvara of Panchala's princess, Draupadi

For Draupadī (), the daughter of King

Drupada Drupada (Sanskrit: द्रुपद, lit. ''firm-footed'' or ''pillar''), also known as Yajnasena (Sanskrit: यज्ञसेन, lit. ''he whose army is sacrificial''), is a character in the Mahābhārata. The son of King Prishata, he was ...

of Panchala in the ''

'' (), aspirants had to hit a fish's eye with a bow and arrow. This fish was just an image on a rotating wheel placed over a pan filled with oil. The many suitors had to aim using the reflection of the fish in the oil.

Damayanti

Another famous svayamvara from the ''

'' is found in the story of

Damayanti ''Damayanti'' (Sanskrit: दमयंती) is a character in a love story found in the Vana Parva book of the Mahabharata. She was the daughter of Bhima (not the Pandava one) and a princess of the Vidarbha Kingdom, who married King Nala of ...

, who chose Nala for her husband, against the wishes of the gods.

Modern literature

''The Bearded Prince'' tells the story of Princess Roopali, whose father holds a svayamvara for her to select her groom.

Roshani Chokshi Roshani Chokshi (born February 14, 1991) is an American children's book author and a New York Times bestselling author. Personal life Chokshi's mother is Filipino and her father is Indian, both immigrants to the United States. She grew up sp ...

's ''

The Star-Touched Queen ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' has the heroine Maya's father stage a svayamvara for her early in the novel.

Iranian literature

Kitayun

The Shahnama of

Ferdausi , image = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus, Iran 3 (cropped).jpg , image_size = , caption = Statue of Ferdowsi in Tus by Abolhassan Sadighi , birth_date = 940 , birth_place = Tus, Samanid Empire , death_date = 1019 or 1025 (87 years old) , de ...

records a similar tradition in

pre-Islamic Iran The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian ...

, of one ''Kitayun'', eldest daughter of the Emperor of Constantinople, selecting the Iranian Gushtasp. With a view to procure a husband for one of his daughters, the Byzantine emperor determined to hold a grand assembly of illustrious and wise men for her to see and select from. She did not find a suitable husband in the first assembly, so a second one was held, where she placed the crown on Gushtasp's head. Gushtasp, also known as Vishtaspa, returned to Iran with his bride and was crowned King.

Rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

(literally "Rome") was the common name used for the Eastern Roman or

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

by Middle Eastern people.Mazda-Yasni and Zorastranian Tales (Book Two) as retold by Kuku S Shabbir, Page 33, ,