102 couples ties marriage knot in Dharmasthala,mass wedding ceremony

Beltangady: There were celebrations galore at Dharmasthala pilgrim centre and

Beedu, the residence of Dr Veerendra Heggade on Thursday, May 4 as 102 couples tied the marriage knot during the 46th annual mass wedding ceremony.

In total, 102 couples married in between their religious recitations and customs in the evening. Heggade was distributing sarees, clothes for brides and Dhothi, shawl and shirt to grooms since the morning.

During the mass marriage ceremony, Dharmasthala Dharamadhikari D Veerendra Hegde and Hemavathi Hegde, director general of police Kishore Chandra, MLAs K Vasanath Bangera, K Abhayachandra Jain, film artistes Yash and Radhika Pandith, Birla Corporation, Calcutta CEO Sandeep Ranjan Ghosh conveyed their best wishes.

Dr Veerendra Heggade said, "Personality of an individual becomes complete after marriage. Simple marriage is the intention of mass weddings. The weddings are not arranged for poor. As westerners say, 'Wedding is not a prison'. Getting married between elders and priests increases the spiritual and family responsibility. There should be no rift among couples for any reason."

The 12,000 couple, Brahmavar's Kiran and Karkala's Sridevi were dumb. They were honoured in a separate platform. As many as 11 weddings were inter-religious and 15 couples were from backward tribe. So far, 12,029 couples have got married at Dharmasthala since 1972.