A dream that led to animal wedding

Wedding between animals may be common in other states of India compared to Kerala. In Kerala such incidents are rare. That may be the prime reason why one such marriage attracted scores of people to Veera Hanuman temple near Athani in Kochi(Cochin).

Veera Hanuman temple in Kochi was the venue of a traditional Hindu wedding between a cow and a bull amidst fanfare and gaiety. 

The temple’s chief priest decided to conduct this unusual marriage when a bull named ‘Kannan’ appeared in his dream and expressed the desire to have a marriage solemnised.

"Kanan came in my dreams and expressed a wish to get married. The bull lamented that if humans could marry then why not animals so I conducted the wedding," said Kalidas Chaitanya.

Residents said that the ceremony should not be treated as a meaningless ritual, rather as a commitment towards nature and natural beings.They compared the bull and the cow to two Hindu deities Shiva and Shakti (Parvati).

"This is Shiva and Shakti, the divine embodiment of the male and female. Nature is full of this all pervading principle. And this religious symbolism is often portrayed in a bovine marriage," said Narayan Kutty, who manages temple affairs.

The ceremony was followed by chants of women devotees who later offered the ‘tali mala’ or symbolic wedding thread to the bride and garland to the bridegroom.

Giving away animals to ward off evil or to appease deities is common in India. But this rare ceremony was significant in that it focused on the need for human beings to take care of animals.