Till death do them apart...? On the contrary

Yadava, who died seven years ago, would be 38-years old now. And his bride Vishalakshi would be 35, if she had not died at the tender age of 11.

The marriage rituals were conducted at Badagabellur near Polali in the outskirts of the City on Sunday night with nearly 200 relatives and well-wishers ub attendance.

Parents and relatives of the dead persons arranged the marriage ceremony, with all the customary rituals performed.

Yadava, a soldier in the Indian Army, died in an encounter in Rajastan in 2003.
Vishalakshi, daughter of late Parameshwara Poojari and Honnamma died of illness in 1986 when she was 11 years old. Both were unmarried when they died.

The idea of getting the two, belonging to families unknown to each other, struck their relatives after their families began facing problems in finding matches for their children of marriageable age.

“If a man or woman die before getting married, problems may arise in such families, precluding the marriage of the unmarried youth. Both the families had been advised by Boothas (minor deities), Kolas (divine rituals) and astrologers to arrange marriage of the dead in their families in order to resolve their problems,” Shashi Kiran, Vishalakshi’s nephew told Deccan Herald.

Both families started search for suitable marriage alliance for their dead and finally they were put in touch with each other. Elders in both families decided to unite the dead souls.

‘Dibbana’ (marriage procession), ‘Dhare Muhoortha’, ‘Tali Muhoortha’ and all rituals were performed in the presence of elders and family members.

Relatives of the bride brought saree and ornaments in the procession, while the groom’s family organised the wedding including a dinner for all invitees.

Bride’s saree, ornaments as well as groom’s dress and ‘peta’ (turban) were placed on separate traditional ‘mane’ (wooden seat).

In-laws of the dead placed the ‘Karimani’ and garland on the dress in the presence of ‘Gurikars’ (community leaders) to mark the ritual.

Meanwhile, uncles of the dead performed the ‘dhaare’ to make the ritual auspicious. A meagre amount of dowry too was handed over as part of the ritual on the occasion.
And Yadava and Vishalakshi might be living happily in the hereafter.