As entire northern India reels under a drastic heatwave and await Monsoon eagerly, the citizen of the holy Hindu city, Varanasi went ahead and tried to please Indra the Hindu God of Rain in an unique manner. A wedding ceremony between two plastic frogs took place with pomp and ceremony to please the God.
According to the organizers, the ceremony was arranged to please the Hindu Rain God, Indra. In return, he is supposed to shower the Earth with much-needed respite from the soaring temperatures by expediting the Monsoons.
“We want rainfall in the city. It’s an old belief that the wedding of frogs makes Indra Dev happy. We have been affected by the blistering heat. It is raining everywhere but, not in Varanasi. So, we organized this wedding, requesting Indra Dev to hasten the arrival of the Monsoon here,” an organizer of the event told the media.
The two plastic frogs were kept on decorated plates with garlands around the necks of the ‘newlyweds’. Two persons dressed themselves up as the bride and bridegroom. A priest performed hawan (special offering) to solemnize the frogs’ marriage.
A huge number of people gathered for this ‘unusual’ wedding and danced to the beats of the drum and enjoyed the occasion like any other wedding.
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With little or no rainfall seen in parts of Uttar Pradesh, locals are experiencing hardships due to rising temperatures.
In Lucknow, the District Magistrate has ordered authorities to shut down all primary and secondary schools, and CBSE and ICSE-affiliated institutions till June 30 due to excessive heat there. The notice threatened strict action if any school is found operating before the stipulated date.