PALANPUR, India, (Reuters) – A village in western India hosted a mass wedding and engagement ceremony of 21 girls yesterday aimed at breaking a tradition of prostitution which has for centuries exploited women of a poor, marginalised and once nomadic community in the region.
Hundreds of guests from surrounding villages and government officials gathered at the colourful event, which saw eight couples married and 13 others engaged in a huge marquee in Wadia village, 115 km (70 miles) west of Palanpur city in India’s Gujarat state.
“Prostitution is a tradition which this community adopted for ages and it has been very normal for them. They did not think they were doing anything wrong. But it is uncivilised, indecent,” said Vijay Bhatt, development officer for Banaskantha district, which Wadia village is part of.
“By marrying and engaging these girls we have been able to break this culture. Once a girl is married, she is out of the profession. Once she is even engaged, she is out of this nexus.”
Adorned in gold jewellery and dressed in brightly coloured pink sequined skirts and blouses, the girls sat veiled on a raised platform in a long line next to their grooms and fiancés in golden turbans, as a Hindu priest chanted Vedic mantras.
Activists said the girls – who come from the Saraniya community, where women traditionally do not marry and work as prostitutes in nearby towns and cities – will now be able to break free of the profession of their mothers and lead “normal, pious” lives.
“We are trying to get rid of this culture and stigma. We want to pull it from its roots,” said Ramesh Saraniya, whose 25-year-old sister and 22-year-old niece were wedded to local village men in the mass ceremony.
“It is happening for the good of our society.”
“EASY MONEY”
The men of the Saraniya community, a nomadic group of 50,000, once worked for various warring factions which ruled over this drought-prone region prior to India’s independence from Britain in 1947, sharpening their daggers and swords.
