More than 350 couples tie the knot in Gujarat, West Bengal in mass weddings

SURAT/KOLKATA: As many as 251 couples in Gujarat's Surat tied the knot at a mass wedding ceremony on Sunday.

On the same day, at least 101 Bengali couples celebrated 'day for love' as Kolkata's Vishwa Jagriti Mission Trust, a multifaceted philanthropic organisation organised a mass marriage program.

Mahesh Savani, a businessman from Surat, arranged the mass marriage event. He has been organising such mass weddings for the past five years.

Savani took up the responsibility to pay for the expenses of marriages of girls who have lost their father and are not financially stable to meet the expenses of marriage.

So far, Savani has done the ritual of 'Kanyadaan' of nearly 1000 girls which also includes the 251 brides who got married on Sunday.

The businessman not only takes the responsibility of Hindu girls but there are five Muslim girls and one Christian girl, whose marriage will take place according to their religious customs.

The marriages in Kolkata were solemnized in traditional Bengali  customs and traditions   among chanting of mantras by Pandits

Secretary of the Vishwa Jagriti Mission Sushil Goenka said this is the 5th such mass marriage program since the inception of their Trust.

More than 500 couples have been married the mass weddings, over the past 10 years.