A bride in northern India died of a suspected heart attack during her wedding last week, prompting the bride’s family to make a last-minute decision to carry on with the wedding ceremony and allow the woman’s younger sister to marry the groom instead, the International Business Times reported Thursday.
The bride, identified by her first name, Surbhi, collapsed suddenly on the evening of May 29 after exchanging floral garlands with her groom, Manjesh Kumar, during a Hindu wedding ritual known as jaimala. The wedding had just begun at Surbhi’s family home in the village of Samaspur, located within the Indian national capital city of New Delhi, when the young bride fell ill.
“A doctor from the local village was called to the scene after Surbhi suddenly collapsed but the doctor was unable to save her,” the International Business Times wrote, citing local media reports. “It was later revealed that Surbhi died of a ‘massive cardiac arrest’ that happened right in the middle of the wedding ceremony.”
“We did not know what to do in the situation. Both the families sat together and someone suggested that my younger sister Nisha should be married to the groom. The families discussed the matter and both agreed,” Surabhi’s brother, Saurabh, told the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) on May 30.
“Surabhi’s body was kept in another room and the marriage of Manjesh was solemnized with Nisha. After the wedding, when the ‘baraat’ [groom’s wedding party] left, Surabhi’s last rites were held,” Saurabh said. A baraat is a Hindu wedding procession in which the groom and his party enter the wedding venue.
Bride collapses and dies at wedding, so groom marries her sisterhttps://t.co/TiuxXGeKnF
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“It was a tough call for our family. One daughter lay dead in one room and the wedding of another daughter was being solemnized in the other room. We have never witnessed such mixed emotions. The grief over her death and the happiness of the wedding has yet to sink in [sic],” Surbhi’s uncle, Ajab Singh, told IANS.
Photos circulated on social media this week appear to show Surbhi at her wedding moments before she suffered a heart attack. She is seen in the photos wearing the floral garlands exchanged during the jaimala. One photo shows Surbhi standing beside her groom, Manjesh; Another photo captures Surbhi standing amongst her relatives with her younger sister, Nisha, also pictured.
“[T]here could be several other factors behind the deceased’s family deciding to get the younger sister married to the groom,” the International Business Times noted Thursday. “The bride’s family would likely have been expecting a dowry, while the groom’s would have wanted to avoid the stigma of returning from a wedding without a bride.”
A similar incident occurred in the eastern Indian state of Odisha in March when a newlywed woman “still in her bridal clothing” died of a heart attack during a post-wedding Hindu ritual known as vidai. The vidai ceremony is designed so that a bride may bid farewell to her family and maternal home before departing with her new husband.
“The heart attack was caused due to excessive crying or emotional stress-induced at the moment,” India’s News 18 reported on March 6.
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