This Hindu wedding in Nagpur just stole our hearts and it will steal yours too

Indian weddings are known to be a lavish affair worldwide. While some weddings get over in a matter of hours, some go on for days with various rituals and festivities that make up for a fun filled time. However, one thing is common in all these weddings – the ceremony is officiated by a male priest. Surprisingly, this Nagpur couple chose to do things differently last week.

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Ashay, son of BJP vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, and Shivada, the niece of BJP's foreign affairs cell head, Vijay Chauthaiwale, tied the knot in front of their friends and family in a ceremony that was officiated by a woman priest. Padma Kasalikar solemnised the wedding and said that while there are numerous women priests, not many are known to officiate weddings and usually stick to smaller ceremonies.

While that bit itself stole our hearts, there is more to the story.

The family also decided to do away with the ritual of kanyadaan (giving away the bride), which often makes for a vital part of weddings. "I believe that a Kanya is not a commodity to be given away as daan. The ritual also takes away all sense of agency from the bride and is as though her parents are abdicating custody of her," Nayana Sahasrabuddhe, the groom's mother explained to the Hindu.

"There are, pardon my saying so, several hypocricies in our rituals. We do Kanya Pooja on the one hand and refuse to recognise the rights of a woman on the other. I feel it is important, at least in my actions, to weed out such hypocracies," she added.

When the groom's family was adamant that they do away with this age-old ritual, the bride uncle Chauthaiwale is said to have convinced her parents to give up the ritual.

Kasalikar, the priest, too was taken aback when the families decided to do away with the ritual and even admitted that insisting on the importance of kanyadaan usually is enough to convince the families of the same, but things were different this time. "Normally I do tell the families that Kanyadan is an essential part of the ceremony, but in this case, the two sides were quite firm," she told the daily.

Later, Chauthaiwale also tweeted an image from the ceremony with a caption that reads: "Change begins at home. When my niece got married yesterday in Nagpur, wedding ceremony was presided by women priests."