Chennai (Tamil Nadu): We live in a patriarchal society where most rituals are performed by a male priest but contrary to that, a woman priest solemnised a wedding following Hindu rituals and religious practices duly in Chennai.
Perhaps first of its kind in this part of the country, a woman priest performed the rituals of two communities to solemnise the wedding of Sushma Harini, a Telugu, and Vignesh Raghavan, a Tamilian, at Dakshin Chitra on the city outskirts.
Speaking about the marriage, Sushma Harini, the bride, said that the profession of priest in marriages is a male bastion so she wanted to change that perspective and make people realise that it can be done by a woman priest too.
"There is no denying that male domination still continues in many fields. We see that mantras in weddings, as per tradition, are often chanted by the male priests only. So, to change that practice, I decided to go for a woman priest in my marriage."
Vignesh Raghavan, the groom, said that it was all with the collaboration of our two families that we made our marriage so different.
"I am from a Tamil family, my wife belongs to a Telugu family, the woman priest is from Karnataka. It was destined to be a special wedding involving three states, " he said.
It is to be noted that the women priest not only performed the rituals properly but also explained the significance of every mantra to the bride and groom in English.
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