251 fatherless brides in Surat tie the knot in mass wedding

Dec 25, 2017, 06.12 PM IST

Big fat wedding

At least 251 fatherless girls belonging to different castes and communities got married at a mass wedding held at Savani Chaityna Vidya Sankool in Mota Varachha in Surat on December 24.

1/6

AFP

Shine on

The mass wedding was organised by PP Savani and Movaliya families, which are into wide variety of businesses. This is sixth year in succession when such a function has been held in the last week of December in the city to marry off fatherless girls.

So far, the Savani family has got 824 girls married at mass weddings besides financially helping 1,300 girls between 2008 and 2012.

2/6

AFP

Fireworks

There was one Christian and five Muslim brides along with one disabled girl who got married on December 24. Other brides belonged to 31 different castes of Hindus.

3/6

AFP

E

A blessing

Nikah ceremonies were held for Muslims girls while Hindus and Christian got married as their respective rituals.

4/6

AFP

Dressed up

Social workers, writers and religious leaders attended the function. Organisers said they have finalised the programmes for the next two years too.

5/6

AP

Happily ever after

Weddings in India are expensive affairs with the bride's family traditionally expected to pay the groom a large dowry of cash and gifts. 

The Movaliya family did kanyadan of 108 girls out of 251 brides. Savani and Movaliya families spent Rs5 lakh on each bride's marriage.