Madhya Pradesh: Two men marry to ‘appease rain gods’

New Delhi: In a bizarre incident, two men from Madhya Pradesh tied the knot in order to ‘appease rain gods’.

Several districts in Madhya Pradesh have rainfall deficit. Though the beliefs behind such rituals appeasing rain gods are doubtful it did rain during the wedding said the sources.

According to the sources, the locals witnessed the two men dressed in traditional attire, marrying each other.

A media reported there was a ‘proper baraat and the usual dancing to Bollywood numbers as the marriage possession passed through the main roads of the locality.’

“There was no bride. Both Sakaram and Rakesh were grooms in this marriage. They tied the knot as a gesture to draw Indradev’s attention for good rain on Indore,” said Ramesh Singh Tomar, the organizer of the wedding.

He said the Indians are very well adopting the western culture and same gender marriages, live-in relationships all which was a taboo in the past have now becoming a common trend. “It gave me the idea of performing a marriage between two men as a gesture to please the gods for rainfall” said Tomar.

The grooms later returned to their wives after the rituals were completed.

Speaking about the drought condition prevailing in the state, Union Minister Uma Bharti had earlier stated that her ministry has proposed under the incentivization scheme to irrigate 1,71,030 hectares and 68,007 hectares of land in areas of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh falling in the Bundelkhand region.

The scheme will be implemented to bridge the irrigation gap. It will be benefitting districts like Jhansi, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Lalitpur and Banda districts of Uttar Pradesh and Tikamgarh and Datia districts of Madhya Pradesh, the Minister added.