Frog weddings are passe, now marriages held between men to appease rain gods

New Delhi: Bizarre but true! To appease the rain gods, two married men in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city tied the knot with 'love and fanfare' in the presence of their wives and children in a religious ceremony which had earlier seen only frog reunions.  

Sakaram Ahirwar and Rakesh Adjan performed the marriage rituals on Thursday. To the local residents' surprise, it did rain on the day of their wedding.

'Frog weddings' are popularly held in Assam and other states as part of a ritual to appease the rain gods.

The state has been reeling under severe drought-like situation for the past couple of weeks. The ritual is intended to bring showers.

Both the men dressed in traditional wedding attire, put garlands on each other and took rounds around the ceremonial fire. 

There was a proper 'baraat' and the usual dancing to Bollywood numbers as the marriage possession passed through the main roads of the locality, reported the Times of India.

“There was no bride. Both Sakaram and Rakesh were grooms in this marriage. They tied the knot as a gesture to draw Indradev’s attention for good rain on Indore,” said the organiser, Ramesh Singh Tomar.

“It gave me the idea of performing a marriage between two men as a gesture to please the gods for rainfall,” he added.

Amusingly, both the men returned to their respective wives after the completion of the rituals.

Earlier, Union Minister Uma Bharati had proposed a scheme to irrigate several hectares of land in areas of Madhya Pradesh owing to reported droughts in the state.