Beltangady: Newly married couples should lead a meaningful life built on mutual trust, love and understanding, Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Dr D Veerendra Heggade said on Wednesday.
He was speaking after presiding over the 54th year free mass wedding ceremony organised by the Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Dharmotthana Trust at Amruthavarshini Hall in Dharmasthala. He said the initiative has been consistently carried out with the blessings of Lord Manjunatha and aims to reduce unnecessary wedding expenses by promoting simple ceremonies.
MLA Harish Poonja said that over the past 54 years, thousands of couples have begun their married life through the mass wedding programme and wished them well.
Chairman of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Harish Kumar said that every programme organised by Dharmasthala is socially oriented and that such weddings help improve the lives of couples.
MLC Pratap Simha Nayak, Hemavathi V Heggade, D Harshendra Kumar and Ramavarma Ballal were present on the dais.
Kshema Vana CEO Shraddha Amit welcomed the gathering. SDM College Ujire Principal Dr Sunil Pandit delivered the marriage oath guidance. A V Shetty, close associate of Heggade, proposed the vote of thanks. Srinivasa Rao and Sampath Kumar Rai compered the programme.
Mangalsutra only for Dharmasthala weddings
Dr Heggade said that while the Dharmasthala model of free mass weddings has been adopted by the government and other institutions, mangalsutras will no longer be provided for mass weddings conducted elsewhere. He clarified that providing them outside creates a misconception that such weddings are organised by Dharmasthala. Henceforth, mangalsutras will be distributed only to couples married at Dharmasthala.
13,100th couple weds
Mahadevaswamy from Malavalli in Mandya district and Usha Raghu Mogera from Sirsi in Uttara Kannada district became the 13,100th couple to marry under the programme.
A total of 106 couples got married in the 54th year ceremony held during the auspicious evening muhurta at 6.40 pm. Of these, 105 couples were from districts including Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Shivamogga, Kodagu, Chamarajanagar and Mysuru, while one couple was from Andhra Pradesh.
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