INDIA. Maharashtra, Tumsar: In the spirit of relieving the burden of the heavy cost of marriage from the shoulders of the bride’s parents, Vivek Bhondekar has set a unique example by marrying at the birth anniversary of the great Indian poet and guru Ravidas at Tumsar on February 16. Thus, he set the trend of averting the financial burden that usually befalls the bride’s parents.
Who was Guru Ravidas
Guru Ravidas was an Indian mystic poet who was born in the last decade of the 14th century. He was against idolatry and the pilgrimage. He was against the caste system which was prevalent at that time in Indian society. His father was in the cobbler business.
He spread his thoughts through poems and ballads in Brajawasi dialects so that people could understand the devotion of god in plain language. He was the spiritual teacher of another great mystic Meerabai. Sant Kabir gave him the title of Sant Shiromani (head of all mystic teachers).
On every 16th of February, people of the cobbler community use to congregate together and celebrate the birth anniversary of the great mystic poet Sant Ravidas at Tumsar. People usually collect the money from the respective people and celebrate the birth anniversary of the poet.
On this occasion, more than 2000 people flock together. When a marriage happens in India, the parents of the bride have to take the burden of the financial matters of the marriage.
When poor parents hold the marriage ceremony, they have to take loans for the same. Repaying the debt, the parents become poorer. This is the pertinent problem in the cobbler’s sect where most of the parents are poor.
Vivek has thought of a novel solution for this problem. He marries one on the occasion of Ravidas’ birth anniversary and thus has saved more than two lakh rupees ($2678) that would have put the burden on the bride’s parents. Thus in one stroke, he relieves the fiscal burden on the parents and simultaneously paves the way for future marriages.
Talking to Transcontinental Times, he said, “I want to send the message to the society that doesn’t spend money on the extravaganza of a marriage ceremony. Instead choose this date i.e. birth anniversary of Ravidas guru, where already people are contributing to celebrate, and hold their marriage ceremony. This will save a lot of money for the future generation.”
He hopes that this will create an awareness in the different sections of the society and they will also choose this kind of path.
Vivek’s unconventional approach has been widely appreciated by many including TCT’s CEO Roshan Bhondekar who congratulated Vivek for setting an example for the society.
Honourable MLA from Bhandara constituency, Narendra Bhondekar, told Transcontinental Times that he is happy with the initiative and feels that a lot more is to be done for the cobbler’s community.
The event was attended by many dignitaries like MLA of Tumsar constituency, Raju Karemore, Engineer Rajendra Patle, MP Madhukar Kukde, and many more. The event was enlightened with the folk songs of Guru Ravidas sung by the national tambourine player Tushar Suryavanshi.
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