Assam man ‘marries dead girlfriend, promises never to marry again’

• Prathana became gravely ill a few days before her death on November 18.
• Bitupan Tamuli wrapped a garland around her neck and on himself.
• This was likely a one-time posthumous wedding, but it’s not uncommon in other parts of India.

In tragic nuptials, a man in Assam deliberately became a widower after his longtime partner died.

A viral video shows Bitupan Tamuli, 27, pouring vermilion on his now-dead lover, Prathana, who died on Friday. During the “wedding,” the man wrapped a garland around her neck and on himself.

Bitupan promised to never marry again out of love for his girlfriend. Subhon Bora, a relative of Prathana, claimed she became gravely ill a few days before her death on November 18.

A YouTube video of the ceremony soon followed. This was likely a one-time posthumous wedding, but it’s not uncommon in other parts of India.
A few communities in Karnataka and Kerala practise Pretha Kalyanam’, or “marriage of the dead.”

“For those who are not accustomed to traditions of Dakshina Kannada this might sound funny but it’s a serious tradition here,” Youtuber Anny Arun wrote in a viral Twitter thread this year.

“For those who died in child birth, they are usually married off to another child who is deceased during the child birth,” he said.

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