Berhampur: In a first of its kind in Odisha, a couple has tied the nuptial knot here not keeping the ‘holy fire’ as the witness to their marriage. Instead they solemnised their marriage in front of the Indian Constitution.
The marriage is termed unique for several reasons. Here horoscopes of the couple were not matched, no auspicious time was sought and priests were not engaged to chant ‘mantras’.
Instead engineer Prithwik Misha and college lecturer Mandakini Panda got married at the Saheed Laxman Nayak Community Hall here Friday with the Constitution of India as their witness.
Prithwik’s mother Biduprava Rath is a rationalist. She has been working in the field of creating awareness against superstitions and cast feelings.
Mandakini is a lecturer in political science. She had once come in contact with Biduprava when she was doing a research on ‘Women Empowerment’.
Their similar mindsets brought them close. Biduprava was so impressed with Mandikini’s rational approach that she proposed marriage on behalf of her son to Mandakini. Mandakini’s family accepted the proposal.
Mandakini’s father Bairagi Charan Panda is a priest by profession. Yet both the families agreed to solemnise the marriage sans pre and post rituals.
Two different platforms were put up for the couple. They pledged to live their rest of lives respecting each other’s freedom promising to be compassionate to the poor, neglected, oppressed people of the society. They took the pledge touching the Constitution of India. Retired lecturer Bijay Bahidar administered oath to them.
This out of the box marriage ended with the seniors showering their good wishes on the newly-wed couple.
While ‘Manbadi & Hetubadi Sangathan’ organised the ceremony, members of the same organisation including Raja Suresh, Sadhana Panda, Sujnani Manjari, Somnath Behera, Subhashmita Panigrahi, Rajbala Tripathy and many other senior citizens attended the ceremony.
PNN
