Boy marries dog!
In a story so bizarre you’d be forgiven for thinking that it had been made up by the Sun newspaper, a boy in India has married a dog. The boy is just two years old, and the dog is called Jyoti.
It’s not a strange publicity stunt, or some fabricated story, but in fact an ancient custom performed in villages in eastern India to ward off evil spirits. The two year old boy, and groom, Sagula Munda arrived at his ‘wedding’ with the dog in a rickshaw and was married by priests.
The reason for the marriage was that Sagula had a rotten tooth in his gum, which was a bad omen that can be averted by marrying a dog.
Sanrumula Munda, the father of the boy (and groom) stated:
Tribals not only in this state but also in neighbouring Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, observe such practices to keep the evil spirits away.
Children are often married to dogs to ward off evil spirits, according to Munda.
Parakrama Munda is the father of the bride, or owner of the dog. He stated:
This is just a ceremony to please the tribal deity – in the great epic Mahabharat a dog helped the Pandavas reach heaven.
We don’t believe there was a honeymoon after the wedding, as Jyoti didn’t quite get the stud dog husband she was looking for either.
