Marriage, as an institution, has been governed by factors like caste and community for centuries in India.
Ditching that concept completely, Sachin Asha Subhash and Sharvari Surekha Arun from Pune decided to hide their surnames, and hence caste, from each other’s families and went for a wedding ceremony that was aimed at getting something done for the society.
They tied the knot the Satyashodhak way, where the entire ceremony happens without a priest.
The vows in such marriages are exchanged by the bride and groom in the presence of their family members and no mediator is involved in the process.
Sachin and Sharvari decided that their vows will be based on basic principals of honesty, compassion, non-violence, hard-work, development, conscience towards the society.
They also came up with 12 pointers for how they want to spend their lives after marriage. These include: Gender equality, respecting each other’s choices when it came to children and working towards social causes their entire life.
As for gifts, they requested around 1000 guests to give them books instead of other things as they are planning to open libraries in their respective villages.
In a story published by Pune Mirror, 26-year-old Sachin said:
Both of us do not follow any caste and also do not use our family surnames. We have purposely not informed our castes to our parents and believe that caste should never be criteria for marriage.
In another interview given to The Logical Indian, Sachin said:
Our wedding was simple, we did not even print wedding invitation cards as we made use of technology and sent it to all our friends and families over social media.
While Sharvari added:
We have changed the rituals and do not believe in ‘Kanyadan’ as we feel that daughters are not the properties and words like Dan (donation) should not be used. We have also finalised seven vows, rather principles in life, which will replace the Saptapadi ritual.
They also did not look for an auspicious date and decided to get married on January 26th, owing to the importance of the date for the country.