Berhampur: A couple in Odisha’s Berhampur took oath on the Indian constitution instead of the traditional pheras around the sacred fire and urged their guests to donate blood.
Here we are talking about Bijay Kumar, 29, and Shruti Saxena, 27, who debunked the traditional wedding rituals. While Bijay is from Berhampur, Shruti is a native of Uttar Pradesh. They work at a private firm in Chennai.
The beautifully decorated wedding venue had no mandap or priest. Bijay and Shruti exchanged garlands and then took their wedding vows on the Constitution.
After the wedding, they donated blood at a blood donation camp near the reception venue and urged the guests to do so instead of showering them with expensive gifts. The newlywed also requested them to take a pledge to donate their body organs.
However, this is not the first wedding in the family which was conducted sans customary Hindu rituals. Bijay’s elder brother had tied the nuptial knot in a similar fashion in 2019.
“In 2019 this kind of wedding was organised for my elder son after convincing the parents of his bride,” Bijay’s father, D Mohan Rao, told PTI.
He further said that such weddings, without caste, dowry, and other traditional rituals, would rid the society of the social evils.
Shruti said that she met Bijay in Chennai in 2015 through a common friend. “We took an oath, and then donated blood. I think we have fulfilled our duties towards society. I hope it will be an example for others. I feel happy,” she was quoted as saying by IndiaToday.In.
Ganjam secretary of Humanists Rationalist Organisation, a civil society body, KN Senapati, told the news agency that at least four such weddings have been solemnised in Berhampur in the past three years.
