Groom and Bride  forced to abandon Kodava Marraige Ceremonies. Asked to abandon the mantap and shift to the room for seeking blessings from the Guests.

According to the news report in Shakthi Daily ^[1], a marriage between a Kodava & a non-Kodava was disrupted at Kodava Samaja at Vasanthnagar in Bangalore. This time at the receiving end was the the Mukkatira Family. The members of Kodavame & Nellaki stormed the wedding hall and stopped the customary proceedings of the marriage.

This is the second time the people from organisations claiming to be protecting Kodava Culture & Traditions have barged into a wedding and have created ruckus in the marriage. I had written about the previous incident and the mother of the bride had commented ^[2] about the same.

The Modus Operandi of these organisations is quite interesting. They seem to receive first hand information of the marriage that is going to happen between a Kodava & a non-Kodava at Kodava Samaja and barge in at the very moment when the marriage is taking place at Kodava Samaja.

The last time an organisation calling itself  Nanga Kodava had barged into a wedding and disrupted the wedding of a Kodava bride with a Non-Kodava Groom. They had said that “they had no issue with a Kodava marrying a non-Kodava, but they should refrain from doing so under Kodava customs”. In a stark similarity the same view is of the members of the organisations which raided the wedding of the Mukkatira Family at the Kodava Samaj, Bangalore.

The members of these organisations went a step ahead and even dictated the further proceedings of the marriage.
To quote from Shakthi Daily;

They stopped the ‘Kodava valga’ being played and other rituals like ‘Ganga Pooja’. The couple were made to sit inside the room, instead of the ‘mantap’ to receive blessings.

Interesting to note is that there seems to be no security at Kodava Samaj and this is the second time people have gate crashed a wedding at Kodava Samaja and created a scene in a private function.  And seems the Kodava Samaja is not bothered to file a police complaint in this regard.

Update: Seems the news being  spread about what really happened is doubtful. While Kodavame and their supporters claim that there were able to stop the wedding the ceremonies, The Groom’s Sister has claimed that they were booted out of the hall and they(Muccatira Family) carried on with all the ceremonies without any issue. If so, then Kodavame and their ilk is on a propaganda war to suit themselves,  irrespective of  the fact being they got shooed and booed away from the wedding and they “were not able to stop the wedding” or “coerce the Muccatira family into backing off from the ceremonies”.  But they went on spreading rumors about the “ceremonies being stopped” and made everyone(mostly their target market – The Kodavas) feel that they won the day and have achieved something great. Seems Shakthi Daily, Brahmagiri , Poomale, etc fell for their bait and published the wrong news. In turn, starting a passionate debate on the back of a incident,”Which never took place”.