Brides on horses in role-reversed wedding

Varanasi, May 29 (UNI) Giving the go by to established marital conventions, two brides on horses and one in a car arrived for their marriage along with the "Baraat" at Kandawa here last night.

The role reversal was done at the behest of the father of the grooms, Dr D L Kashyap, a Bhojpuri film producer.

Babita from Lalpur (Varanasi) and Sunita from Rameshwar (Varanasi) on horseback and Mina from Mirzapur district, seated in a car, reached Dr Kashyap's house to marry Ravi, Shashi and Pawan respectively at a dowry-free wedding.

"It was a conscious decision to reverse the age old ritual of the groom with his relatives trouping down to the bride's house.

I wanted to strike a balance between the bride and groom in this male dominated society," Dr Kashyap said.

"For me, both daughter and daughter-in-law are equal and this is why I also married off, along with three sons, my two daughters Seema and Sona," he added.

However, these two bridegrooms-- Vijay Bahadur and Upendra-- followed the traditional practice of riding a horse at the head of the baraat procession.

The newly-weds completed their marriage ceremony by taking a vow to promote dowry-free marriages in the future.

UNI ARS NK DS1650