Vedic Weddings On The Rise

[Guest guest]

Arya Samaj rites for cosmo weddings

GEETHA RAO

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2004 02:50:28

AM ]

 

Bangaloreans are going back to their roots, are they?

That could be one of the reasons. Another is that

Bangalore truly is a cosmopolitan melting pot: with

people from all over the country making the city their

home, you have a Jat marrying a Kannadiga, a Bengali

marrying a Tamilian, a Telugu marrying a Rajput. Take

a look at the marriage register at the Arya Samaj, and

this is what it reflects. And with a local girl

marrying a French man, tying the knot has taken on

global overtones.

 

Says Swarna Latha Sharma, president, Arya Samaj, "More

and more Bangaloreans, and definitely South Indians,

are getting married the Arya Samaj way, since they

feel it is more meaningful. Generally, at a wedding,

the priest chants the mantras, but the people are busy

chatting away. Here, each shloka is recited, and the

translation given in English or Hindi immediately.

Thus they understand the true meaning of marriage. We

have NRIs as well as others, and brides and grooms

themselves opting for this. But 90 per cent of them

are South Indians."

 

Neeta Varyani's daughter Jyoti (a Sindhi), a software

professional married Sridhar (a Tamilian), a hardware

professional in December last and they are now in the

US. Says Neeta, "I had seen a friend's daughter get

married the Arya Samaj way and was impressed. I wanted

the same for Jyoti, so both she and her husband could

understand the rituals."

 

Jayanthi Prabhakar, a Kannadiga, had also witnessed

two such weddings, and so when son Prabhakar marries

Shubra Chadda, a half-Punjabi half-Jain girl, on

August 20, the families have decided on an Arya Samaj

wedding. "Besides being more meaningful, they add on

any other ritual we want," says Jayanthi.

 

Ditto Kalpana Bhattacharya, whose daughter Srimoyee

married Gitanand Rajagopal, a South Indian, in May.

"They tell you what a marriage is really all about."

 

Gautam R Rao, who married Sheetal Rao in June, says he

would recommend it to everyone.

 

Some more global weddings — there's been a Buddhist

who married a Keralite, a Tamilian who married a Sri

Lankan, a Telugu who married a Mauritian and a Marathi

girl who married an Englishman — have all been married

in the same manner.

 

geetrao

 

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