Indian weddings can be an extravagant affair. Not only does one have to tend to each and every ritual, but also cater to a zillion other details. However, how many people do actually give these rituals a thought? What exactly do they stand for? Should they be considered mere customs that have been naturalised over the years? Or should one read into them and take a stand?
Nagpur couple Shivada Chauthaiwale and Ashay Sahasrabuddhe decided to turn the tables on the kanyadaan – a common ritual in Hindu weddings that requires the father to ‘give’ (daan) away his ‘virgin daughter’ (kanya) to the bridegroom as a gift.
Ashay is the son of BJP’s national vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and Shivada, the niece of BJP’s foreign affairs cell head, Vijay Chauthaiwale. The bridegroom’s mother decided to let go of the ritual and not give in to a practice that strips a woman of all her agency, The Hindu reported. What’s more, the family also appointed a female priest to officiate the entire wedding.
Ms Sahasrabuddhe, mother of the groom, told the daily:
There are, pardon my saying so, several hypocrisies in our rituals. We do Kanya Poojan on one hand and refuse to recognise the rights of a woman on the other. I feel it is important, at least in my actions, to weed out such hypocrisies.