#BreakingStereotypes: This Bride Got 2 Female Pandits To Officiate Her Wedding
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On the occasion of International Women's Day, here is something we feel is a small but radical change that brides are bringing about during their wedding in their own special way. Dia Mirza recently did the same at her intimate wedding too, and here is a bride who broke stereotypes at her wedding by getting two female panditains to officiate her wedding. In a field monopolised by male pandits, female pandits are few, and not so easy to come by in every local city.
Real Bride Medha, being a strong feminist always knew that she wanted a female pandit to carry out her wedding. Luckily for her, the same sentiment was echoed by her groom Akshay too. She shares her heartwarming experience at her wedding with WedMeGood.
"We were married by two beautiful panditains, at a mandap reverberating with their empowered yet melodious voices, amidst an aura of change, the sound of gender barriers being shattered with the performance of Vedic rituals in the spirit they were intended to be imbibed - the gender agnostic way!
The search was not easy..my mother & I searched for 3 months before coming across someone in Jaipur. We discussed how we'd like to replace age-old patriarchal traditions like "kanyadaan" & "vidaai" with empowered rituals tailored to what Akshay, I & our families believe in. Rituals that celebrate the coming together of two equal individuals and don't place the burdensome pressures of building & upholding relationships only on one gender. To no surprise, she had the satisfied expression of having arrived home to the mother ship!
She told us how she joined the profession only to propagate that the Vedas were originally written with an unbiased lens & patriarchy with it's crutch of misogyny had corrupted them over time. In priesthood, women face incredible backlash from communities, temples & families. There is a deep seated misogynistic & sadistic control privileged men have had over narratives, choices, caste, religion, & occupation in this country that finds color in absurdities like not allowing women of menstruating age to enter temples, or atrocities like ill treating & sexually exploiting those from lower castes trying to become pandits, maulvis or priests.
We chatted for hours about our notions of marriage, religion, spirituality & spiritual inclusion. But she had my heart when on her way out she exclaimed - "what color would you want me to wear? I wouldn't want my colors to clash with yours & ruin the pictures"!
Happy Women's day, Acharya Shruti. You are a powerful cog in the machine that’s attempting to reclaim religion & tradition from patriarchy. You are making the change, not by trashing rituals, but by interpreting them right, in the only way we women know - gracefully & harmoniously! This Women's day, here's hoping that just like you are breaking the misogyny of religious constructs made by man, we'll soon be able to rid ourselves of the various 'isms' this country & it's traditions have historically inflicted on us."
Bride: Medha Khanna; Groom: Akshay Kohli; Photography: Shutterdown - Lakshya Chawla ; Wedding Concept & Design: Pitara Events and Decoration ; Wedding Production: WDNE