If the spirit is willing, why not tie the knot?

[1]

You could call it complete bunkum. But families in Barkur village and surrounding areas, and those in far-off places too, believe that by marrying off the ghosts in their families their problems would be solved.

The marriages are between ghosts of two families and are like any other marriage of living beings with proper rituals and exchange of coconuts at the Kodli Sri Janardhana Temple in the village.

On Tuesday, eight pairs of “spirits”, of the unmarried boys and girls who died years ago got married here on Tuesday!

Such marriages of ‘unmarried spirits,’ (mostly of the youngsters who had accidental deaths) are held regularly on every amavasya (New Moon Day) in this temple. In the last one year, around 100 such weddings have taken place here.

The belief is that if an unmarried boy or a girl dies, the spirit does not get “moksha”, and may start troubling the family members. To provide ‘pitrutva’ from ‘pretatva’ such weddings are held and the spirits are given the salvation. Though such weddings normally take place on Sarvapitru Amavasye or Aashada Amavasye in other places, at Sri Janardhana Temple at Barakuru, they are held on every New Moon Day.

In some cases, when families face difficulties, astrologers or soothsayers tell the family members trace the problem to an unmarried spirit in the family.

The families arrange for marriages to appease these souls. The family which has lost a boy has to find a spirit of a girl. Once the wedding is fixed, the families come to the temple and get the two spirits married.

The marriage ceremony is simple. At first, the spirits are invited into two coconuts. Later, a Tila Homa is held and the families exchange the dress of the bride and the groom. The areca nut flower placed on the coconut is exchanged, marking the wedding ceremony.