Knotty switch: Brides tie mangalsutra on grooms!

Hubballi: It was a role reversal of sorts and went a long way in driving home the message of gender equality in the remote Nalathwad village of Muddebihal taluk in Vijayapura district.  

Two brides did what you may call the unthinkable-they tied the sacred thread (Mangalasutra) around the neck of their grooms going against the rituals of Hindu weddings where the groom ties the mangalsutra on the bride. And the women did it in the Lingayat heartland where 12th century community icon Basavanna had preached the equality of men and women. Interestingly, the brides and grooms even belong to different castes.

One pair, Amit and Priya, are software engineers. Priya belongs to the Kuruba community and Amit is a Lingayat. Industrialist Prabhuraj too entered into wedlock on the occasion in the same style with his bride Ankita tying the sacred thread on him.  

The grooms are children of two brothers who are ardent followers of the teachings of Basavanna. The marriage ceremony was a simple one and was intended to send out a message that people should get rid of social evils including the dowry menace and obscure beliefs.

"We have performed several such marriages, my two daughters also got married in a similar style in North Karnataka," said the groom's father Ashok Baragundi, an assistant executive engineer with the PWD.