Ranchi, Nov. 21: The entire hall was adorned with marigold flowers, creating just the right ambience for the celebrations at Agrasen Bhavan today.
Amid chants of vedic mantra and elaborate marriage rituals, 12 couples tied the nuptial knot with the parents of both the brides and the grooms watching the process with satisfaction as they took part in the 14th mass marriage ceremony, popularly referred as Tulsi Vivah.
The organisers, Agarwal Sabha, gave the brides wedding dresses, almirah, sewing machine, steel utensils and iron sets.
The guests, too, dropped some donations of their own in a decorated ghada (pot) which would be used by the sabha for organising cultural events throughout the year. The total collection at the end of the day amounted to about Rs 1,500.
Families of the grooms who had arrived at Agrasen Bhavan, from Harmu Road, Bakri Bazar, Upper Bazar, Gandhi Chowk, Jain Mandir and Baralal Street, were cordially put up at Marwari Bhavan (Harmu Road) while the brides’ family members were seen making pre-marriage preparations at Agrasen Bhavan.
Couples also arrived from Lohardaga, Ramgarh, Bokaro, Patratu, Chatra and Sherghati. Ram Kumar Agarwal, the father of a bride, said that he had chosen the platform to minimise the expenditure. “Nowadays the flower decorators, caterers and tent-owners charge anything above Rs 5,000 which means wastage of money. For middle-class families, it becomes quite an expensive affair as the money can be saved instead for the future,” he said.
On the other hand, Sneha Rajgharia, another bride from Jhumritalaya, had suggested that her father approach the organisers for her marriage. “I am happy that at least my parents’ hard-earned money is saved as there are no earning members in my family at present,” she added.
Chief convenor of the mass marriage Bhagchand Poddar said that from next year they have decided to make special arrangements for qualified girls and boys of the Agarwal community. “There are many educated girls and boys who are unable to find partners of their choice. Hence, we need to help them out through such introductory sessions. We would feed their bio-datas on our website,” Poddar said.
The Agarwal Sabha has already solemnised the marriages of 217 couples and organisers claim that none of the couples have registered complaints in these 14 years. There are also arrangements for marriages of physically-challenged persons.
“We have not received any complaints from the married couples and we feel proud to see these couples who come during the mass marriage ceremony,” said Poddar. He said that for an introductory session, Rs 100 is charged as the entry fee. For mass marriages, Rs 2,500 is taken from both the groom and bride’s families. There are around 2,000 members belonging to the Agarwal Sabha.
Poddar was a pioneer in starting the concept of mass marriages in 1993 after he visited Dhulia in Maharashtra. When he returned, the first marriage introductory session was held on September 25-26 in 1993 during which there were 150 interested couples. But at that time the marriages of only four couples were solemnised.
“We wanted to provide a platform to those less fortunate, who belonged to lower economic groups and were unable to shell out huge amounts to be paid as dowry. We created a system wherein the families of both boys and girls can have an introductory session and choose their partners according to their choice,” said Poddar.
In this way, the girls had the freedom to choose their life-partners which is otherwise not allowed in the conservative Agarwal community.
“Many organisations have started this idea of arranging mass marriages in the city (like Rourkela and Dhanbad) as well as in villages, due to our initiative,” added Poddar.
