191 couple tie the knot in Dharmasthala

This was the 40th mass marriage programme organised at Sri Kshethra Dharmasthala where in the couples tied the knot and took the seven promises before starting the new phase of life on Wednesday.

The wedding ceremony was held at Amruthavarshini hall at 6.30 pm in ‘Godhuli Lagna’ (evening marriage). Of the 191 couples, six were from Kasargod in Kerala.

The procession of the brides and the grooms came to the hall in presence of State Tourism Minister Janardhan Reddy, Belthangady MLA Vasanth Bangera, Sri Kshethra Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade and others.

The temple Committee then handed over ‘mangalsutra’, saree to the bride and wedding clothes to the groom.

Of the 191, ten were inter-caste marriages. SKDRDP employees Eshwar and Mangala too opted to tie the knot during the mass marriage. With this, as many as 11,111 couple have tied the knot over last 40 years in this mass marriage programme.

Manjunath and Mamatha from Ripponpet of Shimoga tied the knot during the mass marriage. Their parents had happily attended the marriage despite the two hailing from different communities

“Caste is not important for us. For us their happiness is important,” said Manjunath’s father Ganesh. Majunath hails from Korama community while Mamatha is an Ediga.

This year 44 different communities, including 52 couple from Dakshina Kannada, 30 from Udupi, 16 each from Chikmagalur, Hasan and Dharwad and 16 couple from Shimoga took part in the programme.

The organisers had taken all care to see to it that no second marriage and no minors get married during the programme.