In what can only be interpreted as odd, a man in Chhattisgarh married two women simultaneously in the same ‘mandap’ in the presence of family members and villagers with all the ceremonies and traditions. Chandu Maurya, 24, solemnised his marriage with the two women, both his lovers, at a ceremony visited by 500 people on January 5, Hindustan Times broadcasted.
“I decided to marry both of them because they both loved me. I can’t betray them. They agreed they both will live with me forever,” Chandu told the newspaper. A tape from the marriage and the invitation card of the function has gone viral on social media.
Maurya, a frontier farmer and labourer in the Maoist-affected Bastar region, asserted that he had fallen in love with Sundari Kashyap, 21, in Tokapal region gone there to induct electricity poles. The two planned to marry each other, but a year later, Haseena Baghel entered the life of Maurya. The 20-year-old was attending a wedding in his village Tikralohnga when the two met and fell in love.
HT reported that Maurya told Haseena that he was already in a relationship, but that did not halt her from expecting a relationship with him. “Both Haseena and Sundari came to know about each other and agreed to have a relationship with me,” he said.
The three also began living together as a couple at Maurya’s house, where he resides with his parents and two siblings. The family members of Haseena came to attend the marriage ceremony, but Sundari’s family avoided the function, said Chandu.
While unique, this is not the first time that a man in Madhya Pradesh has married two women at the same ceremony. Last year, Sandeep Uike, a resident of Madhya Pradesh’s Betul, had married two women at a ritual on July 8. One of the women was Uike’s girlfriend, and the other was a bride chosen by his parents. The marriage was carried with the permission of all three families.