Exchanging vows amid chants, skits with social message

Aparna Banerji
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 9

Ambedkarite weddings have upstaged the fat ones in the region. The arrangements are simple, with portraits of Dr BR Ambedkar being kept in place of some god’s idol, exchange of photographs, and not expensive gifts, social awareness skits, and not loud music.

In a state with 32 per cent Dalit population (Doaba percentage alone pegged at 45 per cent), a number of families are doing away with the expenses and decadence of a big fat Punjab wedding, taking vows in front of their icon Dr BR Ambedkar. “It is all about embracing his ideology in letter and spirit,” they say.

With the revival of Ambedkar’s thought and ideology in popular political discourse, there has been an increased permeation of the Dalit icon’s ideals in day-to-day life, which is evident in low-key Ambedakrite weddings.

Jorawar and Kiran’s November wedding held at Budh Vihar, Garha, this year, was also staunchly Ambedakrite. Their blue reception card, bearing Buddha’s portrait on one side and Dr Ambedkar’s on the other, was marked with slogans “Namo Budhaay” and “Jai Bheem”.

Jorawar (30), who got married to a Sikh girl in a typical Buddhist ceremony, with monks chanting the Buddhist panchsheel and vandana in front of Buddha, Jyotirao Phule and Ambedkar portraits, said, “Faltu kharcha kyo karna? (why splurge). Fifteen years ago, our family embraced Buddhism. My wife isn’t a Buddhist, but she read about Dr. Ambedkar for months before the wedding. We wanted it simple and called only 40 to 50 persons. My brothers also married the same way and we did not accept any dowry. So, the wedding involved reciting of Buddhist mantras and a few speeches.”

At another wedding in Noorpur Bedi on December 1, a skit on Ambedkar and another on Bhagat Singh marked the Hindu wedding festivities of a communist family, which about 300 guests attended.

The Phillaur-based Pragati Kala Kendra has received invitations to perform for at least three such weddings this year alone. The group said the fad for sending a social message though a wedding was catching up. Amrita, a Pragati Kala Kendra member, said, “There has been an increase in such weddings. Earlier, our group performed only at annual functions or anniversaries of Dr Ambedkar, but with the passage of time, there has been a rise in invitations for personal functions.”

Ambedkarite-scholar Prof KS Kaur said, “Earlier, weddings didn’t involve Ambedkar’s pictures. For the past about a decade, the trend has picked up, especially as there has been a revival in the Buddhist-Ambedkarite thought.”