A 33-year-old Indian man has married a female dog to atone for his ”sin” of killing two canines more than a decade ago, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
P Selvakumar married the dog called Selvi at a wedding ceremony held in a temple in the eastern Sivaganga district on Sunday, the English-language Hindustan Times said in a report.
Witnesses said a village astrologer had suggested to Selvakumar that marrying a female dog would help cure various physical impairments that beset him after he killed two dogs 15 years ago.
The villager had killed two dogs when they were mating and strung their bodies from a tree.
”After that my legs and hands got paralysed and I lost hearing in one ear. Only recently, after treatment, I have managed to become mobile and that too with a crutch,” he told the newspaper.
After the astrologer suggested the remedy for his suffering, Selvakumar got his relatives to find a stray bitch, which was given a bath and draped in a sari.
The man and dog then marched in a procession to a temple where Selvakumar tied the mangalsutra (sacred string) around the dog’s neck and solemnised the marriage.
While the bridegroom and his relatives had a sumptuous meal, the bridal dog was given a bun.
Marriages between humans and other living beings are not uncommon in India and are mainly arranged by people in remote areas and villages to ward off ”evil spells” and ”bad omens”.
Reports of parents marrying their children to a dog and marriages of girls with snakes have been reported from tribal districts in the eastern state of Orissa in the past few months.
Village elders say such marriages do not affect the children’s lives. They will be free to marry again later and do not need to divorce the animals. — Sapa-dpa