Vigneswari (left) and her bridegroom (on the stick, right)While many women have to experience kissing many frogs in the quest of finding their prince, 8 year old R Vigneswari actually married a frog.
The marriage, held at the Pallu Puthupattu village on the Tamil Nadu- Puducherry border this month, was part of the traditional "Pongal" harvest festival to "prevent the outbreak of mysterious diseases in the village.
Apart from the "bridegroom" being fished out from a tank from the local temple, the wedding was like any normal Hindu wedding. The residents of the villiage adopted all the traditional Hindu rituals, including the "bridegroom" and its entourage visiting the residence of the bride, Vigneswari and obtaining her parents' consent for the marriage.
This ceremony follows the story of the Hindu God Shiva who turned himself into a frog after a quarrel with his wife Parvati. Because of this, she cried for many days causing disease to spread in the local villages. When the villages sought her help, she sent them to find Shiva and plead with him to marry a young girl. When Shiva agreed, Parvati herself posed as the girl. When they were married, they returned to their original god forms and the outbreak ceased.
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