One woman marries multiple men, typically sibling
Digital Desk: In a rare and culturally significant event, two brothers from Himachal Pradesh married the same woman, reviving a centuries-old tribal tradition known as Jodidara .This special wedding was held on July 12 at Shillai village, which is part of a district of Sirmaur of Himachal Pradesh
The bride, Sunita Chauhan, marries two brothers, Pradeep and Kapil Negi, and the marriage is celebrated in three days of folk music and dancing as well as community support with colorful personalities. The brothers belonged to the Hatti community, and they were proud of the ancient tradition of polyandry, the one woman being married to several men and usually brothers.
The photos from the unusual wedding became an Internet story and attracted the attention of the country and raising the topic once more about this fading custom in the tribe. Although polyandry has become rare in the current Indian society, it has been perfectly legal in the revenue law of Himachal Pradesh, and people still practice it in a few tribal areas, such as in Kinnaur and Jaunsar Bawar in the adjacent state of Uttarakhand.
According to Kundan Singh Shastri, General Secretary of the Kendriya Hatti Samiti, the Jodidara custom dates back thousands of years and was originally developed to prevent the fragmentation of ancestral agricultural land among multiple heirs.
An important aspect of the wedding is the ceremony called Seenj, which takes place at the house of the groom. the chanting of mantras by the local priests is in the vernacular dialect and the union is declared as both sacral and cultural.
Despite its declining relevance in modern society, the Negi brothers say their decision to follow the tradition is a matter of pride. Their marriage is a strong indication of the powerful cultural and cultural heritage of India where even the most rarest of traditions still have a chance to have room to breathe in the contemporary times.
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