KARACHI: Sixty Hindu couples sat in colourfully designed mandaps to tie the knot at a mass wedding ceremony at the YMCA Lawn on Saturday.
The grand reception was organised by the Pakistan Hindu Council, which bore all expenses of the event as well as the dowry for the bride, said Pakistan Hindu Council president Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankhwani. Each couple was allowed to bring 20 guests and the bride was given jewellery, a bed set, quilts and blankets, a television, iron, clothes, utensils, a silver set and more, he told The Express Tribune.
Some of the couples were from Karachi but others came from Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Tando Allah Yar, Dhigri, Thatta, Hyderabad, Jacobabad, Tando Jam, Jamshoro, Mirpur Mathelo and Ghotki.
As the pundit started reciting the prayers at the stage, the bride was made to sit on the right side of the groom and a married woman from the family, usually a sister or sister-in-law, tied the knot for the couple. The pundit kept giving instructions over the microphone and all couples followed in synchronicity.
The couples performed the rounds around the fire but those rituals that were unique to each family were held inside their individual mandaps. For instance, Hindus from the Rathore community make the groom carry a dagger while taking the rounds. This is the legacy of their kings and also wards off evil. The guests are also not allowed to wear shoes inside the mandap because of the belief that Hindu gods are present there. Every mandap was decorated with velvet furniture and the saamgri, which is all the material used in a wedding ritual. It can contain coconut, water, rice, beetle nut, almonds, sandal wood and desi ghee.
Dheeraj Kumar, the brother of a groom, said that his brother was engaged for a year but the family did not have money for a wedding. The groom, Vijay, and his bride, Komal, were very happy at the wedding. “It’s a different experience,” Vijay said.
The arrangements may have been made for only 4,000 people but the number of guests was a lot more. An elderly woman, Mamta, could not hide her excitement to see such a grand wedding unfold. “It may essentially be a cheap way to wed for the poor but it is also good that it brings together so many people of different sects together,” she said.
Govind and Anila were one of the happier couples as they had chosen to get married of their own will. “The idea of taking part in a mass wedding was our mutual decision,” Anila said shyly. This saved Govind a lot of money and he will now be spending only Rs30,000.
Pakistan Hindu and Welfare Association chairperson Mangla Sharma said that it cost them Rs60,000 to Rs70,000 for each couple. The council was aiming to marry at least 100 couples this year but the community has yet to open up to the idea, she said.
“However, the trend is slowly gaining popularity because poor families cannot save enough to bear all the expenses,” she added.
Founder of the Edhi Foundation Abdul Sattar Edhi also attended the wedding. “I am happy to see girls from poor families being married this way,” he said. He also announced a donation of Rs5,000 for each bride.
Haresh and Dema only found out about the wedding two days ago and had very little time to prepare. “I only bought my clothes a night before the wedding and had to get them stitched too,” she said. The couple will go to their village after the wedding to perform other rituals with the rest of their family.
Haresh’s sister-in-law said that they were planning to spend Rs80,000 on the wedding but managed to save nearly Rs50,000 at the mass wedding. A volunteer at the reception, Jeewat Kumar, said that it took around two weeks to make all the arrangements and coordinate everything.
The mass wedding ceremony has been taking place since the year 2008 when 20 couples tied the knot. In 2009, almost 45 couples were married and the number increased to almost 20 more couples this year. Dr Kumar hoped that the number exceeds 100 next year so that more and more people can benefit.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 21st, 2010.
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