అశ్వమేధయాగం చేయవచ్చుగాని, ఆడపిల్ల పెళ్లి చేయలేము.

ashvamedhayagam cheyavachchugani, adapilla pelli cheyalemu.

Translation

One can perform the Ashwamedha sacrifice, but one cannot conduct a daughter's wedding.

Meaning

This proverb highlights the immense financial burden, complexity, and social responsibility involved in performing a daughter's wedding in traditional society. It suggests that even the most difficult or grand Vedic rituals (like the Ashwamedha Yaga) are easier to manage than the endless arrangements and lifelong obligations associated with marrying off a daughter.

Related Phrases

One can swim across even an ocean, but one cannot swim across the ocean of worldly/family life.

This proverb highlights the immense difficulties and endless responsibilities involved in managing a family and worldly affairs (Samsara). It suggests that physical challenges, like swimming across a vast sea, might be achievable with effort, but the complex emotional and financial struggles of life are far more daunting and difficult to overcome.

For the woman who doesn't want to work, her hands are always full of work.

This proverb is used to describe people who are lazy or unwilling to work, but constantly complain about having too much to do as an excuse to avoid their responsibilities. It highlights how someone can make themselves appear busy just to escape actual productivity.

You can make someone close their eyes, but can you make them dream?

This expression highlights the limits of control and coercion. While you can force someone to perform an external action or follow a rule, you cannot control their internal thoughts, imagination, or true desires. It is often used to emphasize that genuine inspiration or vision cannot be forced.

Turning Elli into Malli and Malli into Elli

This expression describes the act of causing total confusion or manipulating facts to make things unrecognizable. It is used when someone twists the truth, swaps identities, or complicates a simple situation to the point where the original context is lost. Often used to describe cunning or deceptive behavior.

One can have a relationship with those who were once wealthy and became poor, but one should not with those who were poor and became wealthy.

This proverb suggests that people who have fallen from a high status usually retain their values, culture, and humility. In contrast, those who suddenly gain wealth after being poor might become arrogant, boastful, or lack the character to handle their new status appropriately. It is a cautionary advice on choosing associations based on character and background rather than current financial standing.

If one's own character is good, one can live even in a neighborhood of ill-repute.

This proverb emphasizes that personal integrity and character are internal traits that do not depend on one's surroundings. If a person is truly virtuous, they will remain untainted and honorable regardless of the environment or the company they are forced to keep. It is used to suggest that strong moral fiber protects an individual from external negative influences.

Build a small house, but lead a large family life.

This proverb advises financial prudence and modesty. It suggests that one should build a small, affordable house within their means, but focus on building a large, happy, and prosperous family or household within it. It emphasizes prioritizing people and relationships over grand material possessions.

A person without a coin cannot even buy a betel nut.

This proverb highlights the importance of money for even the smallest tasks or necessities. It suggests that without financial resources, one's ability to act or progress in the world is severely limited, emphasizing that money is a fundamental requirement for basic transactions.

A girl's wedding is like a well with no bottom; you can only see it through to the end.

This proverb highlights the immense and seemingly never-ending expenses, responsibilities, and emotional complexities involved in performing a daughter's wedding in traditional society. It suggests that once the process begins, it drains resources like a bottomless pit until the very final ritual is completed.

The good that an onion does, even a mother cannot do.

This is a popular Telugu proverb highlighting the immense medicinal and health benefits of onions. It suggests that while a mother is the most selfless caretaker, the therapeutic properties of onions are so unique and powerful for the human body that they provide benefits even a mother's care cannot replicate.