38 couples tie the knot at inter-caste mass wedding in Agra
June 10th, 2012 - 8:35 pm ICT by IANSAgra, June 10 (IANS) A bania (traders’ community) groom marrying a dalit girl, a brahmin girl marrying a thakur - the city of love Sunday witnessed a rare mass marriage where 38 couples of different castes entered wedlock transcending rigid caste barriers.
Organised by the Chetna Sewa Samiti, the brides and grooms from Agra region marched in a procession from the Saraswati Shishu Mandir school to the Mathur Vaishya Bhavan, where the mass marriage programme was conducted with dignity and fanfare in the presence of prominent citizens and social activists.
The family members showered flower petals and offered gifts to the couples while lauding their courage for charting their own destiny.
While many of the couples were known to one another, there were others whose “matching” was done by the organisers.
The inspiration behind the event, 78-year old Satya Prakash Jaiswal told IANS: “How long will we suffer the rigid caste system; the barriers have to be brought down.”
“Then there are several practical problems these days. Girls are highly educated and earning. Parents often find it difficult to find grooms within their own castes, according to the level of the girls. We have several cases where the girls are more educated than the boys, we do the fixing and bring the families together.
“Those who want to marry on their own and cannot, for whatever reasons, organise a wedding are also helped by us. Last year our tally was 27 couples, this year it is 38…” Jaiswal said.
Kumar Lalit, a key organiser, said: “The caste walls came down. It’s no mean achievement for the city of love, and the event has definitely sent out a very strong message. More than 2000 people joined the ceremonial banquet and blessed the couples.”
- Community marriages are the flavour of the season - Dec 15, 2009
- 56 Hindu couples marry in Karachi - Nov 21, 2010
- Hillary Clinton praises Ela Bhatt for empowering women - Jun 22, 2012
- What Anna factor? Parties fail to break caste barriers - Jan 06, 2012
- Spate of honour killings shakes up Punjab - Jul 14, 2011
- 70 couples tie nuptial knot at mass marriage ceremony in Andhra Pradesh - Aug 15, 2010
- 101 couples enter wedlock at Amritsar mass marriage - Nov 30, 2009
- Political bickering mars Agra religious fest - Sep 28, 2011
- He begs - to help impoverished women marry - Nov 28, 2010
- Early marriage my right, says 14-year-old Malaysian girl - Dec 12, 2010
- Have an affair to save your marriage: British author - Aug 20, 2012
- 1,600 orphan couples marry in Yemen's biggest mass wedding - Oct 22, 2010
- Haryana khap asks couple to end marriage, probe on - Apr 20, 2011
- Matrimony, love breathe life into sounds of silence - May 02, 2010
- Meghalaya's married job seekers need to give wedlock proof - Aug 08, 2011
Tags: agra, brides and grooms, caste system, castes, dignity, fanfare, flower petals, jaiswal, knot, mass wedding, mathur, organisers, own destiny, procession, saraswati, sewa, social activists, tally, thakur, wedlock