Meenakshi’s birth herself was due to the Vedic Yagnyas organised by the Tamizh Hindu royalty who wished for children and who were devoted to Uma. Meenakshi’s wedding is therefore also very Hindu: naturally, Sundareshwara took her right hand, as this is a Vedic (that is, specifically Hindu) tradition, recognised by most Hindus throughout Bharatam, including ancient Tamizh Nadu.

“Interesting” is rather the custom among Indian Christians to give sacred names belonging to other unrelated religions (such as Hellenism) to their kind. Alexandros, for instance, like its female counterpart Alexandra and derived variants, were always sacred religious names in Hellenism and, like all Hellenistic religious terms, it means more than merely its literal meaning would seem to moderns and outsiders.

Therefore, even since early Christianity’s early history, Christians were barred from giving names that were not christian (specifically, those names not from the Old Testament) by 4th century Church Fathers Starting of course with the Greek names themselves: the injunctions have been translated by Greeks at http://homepage.mac.com/dodecatheon/FILELL.pdf
JOHN CHRYSOSTOM forbids use of Greek names: “None must call his children the (Greek) ancestors’ names, be that of their father, their mother, their grandfather or their great grandfather, but instead you must use those of the righteous (of the Old Testament)” [John Chrysostom DE INANI GLORIA ET DE EDUCANDIS LIBERIS (690) 641.65]

Prohibition of all non-Christian names continued to be specifically stressed throughout the centuries, including by prominent Protestant reformers (the latter did include New Testament names as admissable). Recently, the current pope naturally reiterated for his western flock the old Christian insistence on what names are allowed: only Christian names.
Still, perhaps people know to remain grateful that not all Christians in India have started pretending Hindu names are for similarly for pillaging.

the order of the placement of hands is what struck me as unusual… and this seems to be a tradition

interesting!

cheers
vj

great post as always.

விஜய்

rgds
vj