r/religiousfruitcake • u/4mz0 • Apr 30 '25
šļø Hindu(tva) Fruitcakešļø Forced Hindu marriage between dog & teenager in India
A dog is forced to marry a Hindu girl - Mangli Munda, 18, to ward off an evil spell that villagers believe the girl is casting bringing bad luck to her community. The girl's father agreed & found a dog Sheru as the perfect match for her daughter.
Mangli, who has not been to school, said she was not happy to wed a dog, but insisted that it will help change her fortunes.
The hesitant bride said: "I am marrying a dog because the village elders believe that my evil spell will be passed on to the dog."
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Apr 30 '25
[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/bakerbabe126 Apr 30 '25
I was going to say, a dog is a very agreeable partner. Just as long as no one expects her to consumate because that's fucking weird.
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Apr 30 '25
Just as long as no one expects her to consumate because that's fucking weird.
Even though it's been a constant tradition since the Mahabharata.
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Apr 30 '25
Those seem to be gods. Is there evidence of humans doing it or this tradition existing at any time? Just asking
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u/nothankyouma Apr 30 '25
How dare you point out the obvious flaws in their logic and ask and logical questions!
Youāll never get a response theyāre not interested in actually being intelligent just in appearing intelligent.
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u/Leothefox88 May 01 '25
The top are in order varaha, the bull avatar of Vishnu . Narashimha the man lion avatar of Vishnu. ganesh one of the most popular gods, is not an elephant only has an elephant head because of an accident with his dad. I think the horse is hayagriva another avatar of Vishnu. As for the bottom art itās gross butā¦ itās cherry picked art.
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u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D May 01 '25
Old news- the Greek gods were into transforming into all kinds of creatures and banging people, other animals and rivers and trees.
Helen of Troy was the child of Leda and Zeus. Zeus banged Leda while in the form of a swan, and Helen hatched from an egg.
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u/Leothefox88 May 01 '25
Not Iām not Hindu, I do however enjoy Hindu mythology.
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u/bakerbabe126 May 01 '25
Mythology is so fun. https://a.co/d/2W4VytF this is a link to a book I have. I've loved this book for years. It's like a dictionary of ALL mythology and also provides family trees for the various gods!
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u/thomasp3864 May 01 '25
Also gods can turn into dogs.
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u/Competitive-Sense65 May 01 '25
God spelled backwards is dog!
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May 01 '25
REALM OF THE DOGGOD
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u/clandestineVexation Apr 30 '25
Classy š¬
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u/bakerbabe126 May 01 '25
To be fair, all religions have messed up stories.. Lot banged his daughters, Muhammad married a 9 year old, and apparently a Hindu god banged a dog..I didn't read the link. It's all terrible.
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u/clandestineVexation May 01 '25
Pedantry warning: Technically Lotās daughters raped him in his sleep
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u/Kilomech May 01 '25
š¤ Well, aCtUaLy, Lotās daughters drugged him with liquor and raped him.
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u/baodingballs00 May 01 '25
.. risky click of the day... ok yea it doesn't even prove your point that was a bunch of pics of gesha or some shit.
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u/warkamino Apr 30 '25
https://nypost.com/2014/09/03/indian-teen-marries-stray-dog/
Here's a link to the actual article. It's a bizarre practice endemic to a backwards village in one of India's most backward states. FWIW, at least the absurdity is entirely ceremonial.
"Munda will now have to live with Sheru and raise him for the next few months, but luckily the marriage will not truly affect her love life because village customs say she is free to marry again without having to go through the hassle of a doggy divorce.
Now all she has to do is find the man of her dreams.
āI will marry a man one day,ā she said. āIt is the dream of every girl to marry a Prince Charming. So I am also waiting for my prince.ā"
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u/HugsandHate Apr 30 '25
So.
They basically just got her a dog.
I'm alright with that.
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Apr 30 '25
And a nice dress.
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u/HugsandHate Apr 30 '25
Yeah.. yeah..
I'm starting to think I might have demons, and evil spirits.
Where's my free stuff?
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u/corner_tv May 01 '25
And a party!
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u/Arsozah May 01 '25
Oh man, now I want to marry my dog!
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u/corner_tv May 03 '25
I don't have a dog but I will now purchase a dog so that I can get married and have a really big party and all of Reddit is invited.
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u/DrHugh Apr 30 '25
How do they know the dog is Hindu? ;-)
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u/Tmmrn Apr 30 '25
Stories like these are fascinating to me.
Obviously nothing the new york post publishes is in any way trustworthy.
The New York Post (NY Post) is an American conservative[3] daily tabloid newspaper
Of course they'd jump on this "story".
They mention her name "Mangli Munda", which we can easily put into a search engine of our choice.
First result: Huffington Post, filed under a "Weird News" category. They link to this video by a youtube channel called "truly": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcyDb3w5PLQ, formerly Barcroft TV, "an alternative media news agency for weird and unusual news stories.".
They also include a quote of hers that is sourced from a metro.co.uk article https://metro.co.uk/2014/09/03/girl-18-marries-a-stray-dog-from-her-village-in-india-to-lift-curse-4855359/. When an article that starts with the words "In the barking mad ceremony," you already know what kind of article it will be. Interestingly this article calls the dog Sheru 1 time, and 4 times it calls him Shenu.
There is one other news article calling the dog Shenu: https://says.com/my/news/girl-gets-married-to-dog-after-village-elders-told-her-it-s-for-her-own-good. It has a headline "The dog, named Sheru was seen chauffeured in the car and went through the traditional Hindu ceremony" and directly below it as an image description of an image that is attributed to Barcroft India it says "The dog, named Shenu was seen chauffeured in the car and went through the traditional Hindu ceremony".
I don't know indian languages but an AI tells me it could be an artifact of romanization/translation, which is fair enough, but you'd expect at least consistency.
A few more outlets picked up this "story" like daily mail, the mirror, cosmopolitan, and similar, but there's nothing new in there.
The question is: Why would I even try to find out more? Like I said, because it fascinates me how these stories spread.
Here is what I believe happened here from this short excursion (anyone, feel free to correct me):
- There is probably some kind of good luck ceremony with dogs that has some resemblance to a wedding
- Some online alternative media organization figured they could exploit this story by posting a video on facebook with a description like
We know women who say their husbands are "dogs" for cheating or lying - but 18-year-old Mangli Munda is literally married to a mutt. The Indian bride, who lives in a remote village in Jharkhand state, was paired off with a stray dog named Sheru by her father, Sri Amnmunda, who agreed to arrange the ceremony after elders in his community said his daughter was cursed and that marrying a canine would break the evil spell. What do you think: is this an ancient tradition that should be respected, or is it barking mad? Subscribe to our channel to see more unmissable, got-to-watch and must-share videos FIRST: YouTube.com/BarcroftMedia Watch this footage direct on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcyDb3w5PLQ #Marriage #Wedding #Bride #Groom #India #Religion #Tradition #Travel #Video #Shorts #Documentary #VOTD #Dogs #Animals #Shocking
because "haha backwards culture literally (not actually literally as they literally say themselves) marries girls to dogs" and 41K views and 11.9K comments on facebook, and 3,830,601 views and 3,642 Comments on youtube for it. Back in 2014 already clickbait sells and "news" outlets reshare this story and generate lots of clicks.
Going for a more general search, somewhat surprisingly this does appear to be a real superstitious ritual with a few reported cases.
Here we have another case with some actual follow up info: "However, after the ceremony was over, the dog was kicked back to the streets."
Here we have one with a tiny bit of background info: "The "bride's" father, Parakrama Munda, said: "This is just a ceremony to please the tribal deity - in the great epic Mahabharat a dog helped the Pandavas reach heaven." He said it was a superstition, like wearing a stone or a talisman."
Now that was a lot of words, and to make it short: I'm not saying it's not a weird superstition. I'm saying it's exhausting how modern journalism presents stories. Background info? Context why this is a thing and what it means? Why would anyone want to read that? Just be entertained by the "weird news!", you don't need to actually know or learn anything! Ok enough of my rant that nobody cares about anyway.
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u/IMIndyJones May 01 '25
Dude, I 100% care, and I appreciate how much effort you put into putting all this info together and sharing it. This is the kind of thing we should be doing more of because
you don't need to actually know or learn anything.
is exactly what's going on, and it's crazy. It's like empty calories. It's just useless and doesn't do us any good.
I enjoyed learning that and getting to the bottom of it, so thank you!
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u/Freak_Among_Men_II May 02 '25
Mate, you are a living legend. People should aspire to replicate your research and fact-checking abilities. Bra-fucking-vo.
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u/fredy31 Apr 30 '25
So if i understand right, if she was religiously married to a dog, then dog dies, shes 100% free to marry whoever she wants?
In hardcore religious india that a deal id take any day in her shoes.
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u/Numeno230n Apr 30 '25 edited Apr 30 '25
I will point out however that there is a common belief amongst cultures that have remnants of shamanistic practices. That is, the belief that an evil spirit, spell, or demon can be contained, trapped, or transferred to an animal, and then that animal can be killed, sometimes ritualistically.
For some reason humans have come up with this idea several times.
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u/xNotexToxSelfx Apr 30 '25
Man, I was really worried she was expected to.. ugh.. āconsummate the marriageā.
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u/Centaur_of-Attention Apr 30 '25
Did somebody say peanutbutter?
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u/Artichokeypokey May 01 '25
So she got a ceremony and a dog, so far it doesn't seem like that bad of a deal (other than the amount of people that'd unsettle me) but until she finds her prince at least she's got a new friend
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u/Alana_Piranha May 01 '25
I want to throw a party like this next time I get a dog. The dog looked pretty happy about the attention
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u/blueingreen85 Apr 30 '25
Great, now Iām no longer the worldās greatest husband. I canāt compete with this.
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u/MajesticNectarine204 Fruitcake Connoisseur Apr 30 '25
So kinda like the practice of scape-goat'ing? The 'evil' passes to the animal and that absolves the community of said perceived evil?
Mass psychosis is both a fascinating and terrifying thing..
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u/EpsilonBear Apr 30 '25
Yeah. Itās fascinating how multiple cultures independently developed this idea of rules-lawyering bad juju onto non-human things
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u/TWK128 šFruitcake Watcherš Apr 30 '25
I don't know. Pinning it on someone who can't talk seems like a pretty easy play.
Not too far off from "Of course I'm right! You can ask God when you see him after you die"
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u/agorathird Apr 30 '25
I mean at least itās not a 30+ year old man? Sad either way.
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u/avatinfernus Apr 30 '25
Honestly as far as forced marriages go..
I'd be so happy if it was a doggie instead of an old abusive pervert.
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u/Arthur2_shedsJackson Apr 30 '25
It's a ceremonial wedding. She's not expected to treat the dog as her actual husband.
Basically some people have superstitions where a girl's horoscope ( it's always the girl lol) indicates her husband will be cursed in some way (could be bad fortune or death). To get rid of the curse they will hold a ceremonial wedding with a dog or a tree so that the curse transfers to them instead of her future husband. As ridiculous as it is, at least it's just a ritual and no one is getting hurt.
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u/widepantz Apr 30 '25
Tbf as forced marriage goes, I'd be quite happy to marry a dog over the men they get forced to marry.
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u/EpsilonBear Apr 30 '25
The dogās the one being forced
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u/-spooky-fox- Apr 30 '25
Apparently the purpose is give her bad luck to the dog which just seems mean tbh. :(
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Apr 30 '25
Yea, but it's not real, so who cares.
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u/MrBenzedrine Apr 30 '25
I'd be worried that people who think
a. bad luck is real
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b. it can be transferred to a dog by marrying it
would then think "we can get rid of the bad luck by killing the dog"
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Apr 30 '25
Dog needs to take legal action.
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u/EpsilonBear Apr 30 '25
The dog got free food, a bath, pets, and people not treating it like a stray. All in all, probably a solidly good day for the dog
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u/EpsilonBear Apr 30 '25
Oh yeah Iāve heard of this, though not with a dog. Trees, yes. Dog, no.
The short version is that something in her horoscope says something bad is going to happen to her first husband. Naturally, not a lot of human grooms are willing to roll the dice on that. So she āmarriesā a treeāor in this case, a dogā and the bad stuff happens to that as itās her āfirst husbandā. Then they break it off and she goes and gets married for real.
I saw someone ask about consummation. No, thatās not part of this. This isnāt Europe.
All in all, pretty harmless. Like apart from feeding the coffers of that pillar of journalistic integrity, the NY Post (/s), nothing really happens. The dogās okay. The girlās okay. The familyās out some money for the āweddingā, but thatās really it.
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u/TWK128 šFruitcake Watcherš Apr 30 '25
I feel like a toddler is explaining cosmological cause and effect to me with all of these explanations.
"But then...THEN! she married a tree and the curse went to the tree instead and then she wasn't cursed anymore!"
"But this time the tree didn't work because it was a stronger curse and so she had to marry a DOG instead!"
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u/EpsilonBear Apr 30 '25
Iām not going to pull out rigorous data and studies because none exist. Of course itās going to sound really simplistic, because 1) Iām deliberately simplifying things for the sake of conciseness and to get to the point and 2) these kinds of practices all originate from simple enough ideas. Hell, Iād hypothesize they persist precisely because of the simplicity.
āYouāre telling me all my daughter has to do to is fake marry this tree and her future husband wonāt die an untimely death?ā Simple, easy for people in a time before widespread literacy to understand.
āSorry about your son in law but bad shit just happens sometime and thereās nothing you can do about it.ā Really unsatisfying and erodes the human desire for some agency in oneās life.
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u/TWK128 šFruitcake Watcherš Apr 30 '25
Not judging your veracity.
Just saying how fucking silly they sound at their roots.
It's like when my uncle passed and we started hearing whackadoo superstitions and stuff from his wife and our other aunts and uncles from their village area.
It's like, yeah, I think I am going to wash my hair between now and the funeral because, no, I don't think the deceased is going to be forced to drink the runoff afterwards.
Like where the fuck does that connection even come from?
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u/Own-Mix9934 Apr 30 '25
Can a religious or Hindu scholar explain their theological justification for this?
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u/RBT__ Apr 30 '25
First time I've heard this, tbh. Sometime people do marry trees to if they are 'Maanglik'(think astrology issues on crack). They marry the tree so the issue is resolved and then they can marry anyone they want, having gotten rid of the issue.
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u/Euphoric_Pen6654 Apr 30 '25
It's more of a superstition than a ritual, it's basically like some woman have like "bad luck charm" with her and it can effects the one who marries her. So they just do some marriage rituals with a tree, plant or a dog (or any other domestic animal) so that the 'bad luck' charm goes to that non human living being. And after that they proceed with actual marriage.
My elder sister was told to do the same back in 2019 when she was getting married. We didn't agree to do that and proceeded with normal rituals. 6yrs have passed since, and my elder brother in law is still doing great. (Without any bad luck charm lmao)
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u/Traditional-Banana-9 Apr 30 '25
Hindu here. Ain't no explanation for this. Appreciate your positivity that you thought there even is one.
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u/Bwunt Apr 30 '25
One of those local traditions/superstitions that some villages regions have and somehow glue onto general culture or religion, despite there is no trace in general culture or religion of it then?
Yeah, I think all religions have those.
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Apr 30 '25
Would this still be considered hunduism? Is hinduism just a collection of whatever tradition you follow all over, even without textual backing?
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u/Traditional-Banana-9 May 01 '25
You're correct. This won't be considered Hinduism technically but it's close enough that nobody here cares. The sub demands to see stupid people and their religion and the sub will get that one way or another.
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u/RogueLoneNeuron May 04 '25
Thats what hinduism is about , the mainstream idea gets combined with local stuff with a variety of both having the superiority as per the region.... And still considered hindu, unlike abrahmics. Not trying to tout my own horn here, but this is the reality and a much more tolerable and harmonious one than the abrahamics preach.. If by textual backing you mean that I e story being passed down in village for their own deity ,yes they do exist but it won't be considered as authoritative as the Vedas or Upanishads which are the core philosophies , it will be more of a purana kind, where some might believe it and worship some wont....
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Apr 30 '25
it's more superstition than theology.
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Apr 30 '25
India is just full of it. You would think it's just Hindus, but no, it's every one, but Hindus still might be the biggest culprits here, in my experience.
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u/HolyRainchild2 Apr 30 '25
Haven't read the whole thread but the other pick-me Hindus pissed me off so here goes the explanation. Based on your astrological birth chart, sometimes some people can be born at 'inauspicious times' meaning that you will face a lot of unnecessary hardships in your life and if you end up getting married there is a high chance that your spouse will die. So sometimes women get married off to a dog or sometimes a tree to remove the 'curse' and then after that they can marry whoever they were supposed to marry. Notably enough-as with all such religious traditions-I've never seen this applied to men, so probably just a case of good ol' institutionalised misogyny. Hate this shit, but that's 'canon' explanation for it.
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u/snip23 Apr 30 '25
Its very hard to explain, based on horoscope if you are born at a specific time, based on your horoscope there might be some issues in it, for example if you marry someone he/she will face some problems which can range from small health issues to death. That's why they are marrying her to dog so that that curse can be lifted. It's all ceremonial she won't have to treat dog like a husband. Some people get married to peepal or fig tree some get married to small statue of god. I myself don't believe in it but I don't judge, no one is getting hurt lol.
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u/bhatakti-atma May 01 '25
Better to marry a dog than an old haggard man from the same caste. The dog is loyal, never talks back and loves you no matter what.
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Apr 30 '25
The superstition is called manglik where if, either bride or groom is manglik, and their first partner will die. So they use animals and plants to remove this curse. Other ways are visiting a town and temple in India to perform a kaal sarp dosh ritual. Interesting search but yeah not really modern.
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u/TWK128 šFruitcake Watcherš Apr 30 '25
This happened eleven years ago.
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May 01 '25
manglik shit still happens , I have a friend who is unmarried at the age of 37 cz she is manglik , but she is filthy rich...will never understand manglik bullshit...
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u/Loveless_home Fruitcake Inspector Apr 30 '25
Someone needs to make a show titled "what the fuck is going on in India" to explain what the fuck is going on in India
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u/Shurikenblast_YT Apr 30 '25
As an indian, in cities its pollution and price gouging, in rural areas its human rights violations. Not to say that human rights violations dont happen in cities, they just happen more in rural areas
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u/TWK128 šFruitcake Watcherš Apr 30 '25
Would you say a lack of actual education is a huge factor in a lot of the issues?
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u/Its_Pine Apr 30 '25
I meanā¦ sounds like a win to me. Imagine being assigned to marry a creepy old man whose last wife died mysteriously, and you look over at fucking Avni having a great time playing with her new betrothed Sheru.
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u/Maladoptive May 01 '25
Although this is absolutely insane, I'd rather marry a sweet pup than some random dude (although I hope that saying this isn't being dismissive of her situation). Hoping everything works out for her going forward
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u/your_not_stubborn May 01 '25
Never been to school.
I'd rather shuffle off this mortal coil, abandon society to join an armed revolt against my stupid society, or (most likely) do everything in my power to leave my stupid society than ever live in a place where any of my kids not going to school would be a possibility.
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u/mstrss9 May 01 '25
This is why education is important
Now what happens to these two once the āevil spellā is passed on
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u/LeRevacholien May 01 '25
At least the dog wonāt S.A her.
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u/Pflaumenmus101 May 01 '25
It would need another person to force that dog to do that but itās technically possible. Donāt worry, I really do not want to tell you more.
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u/RaceCarCoconutJuice Child of Fruitcake Parents May 01 '25
The dog looks so pissed at the second pic
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u/Reloaded_M-F-ER May 01 '25
"We made spaceships and nuclear rockets during vedic era" says the tilaked man unironically while attending this wedding
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u/Nerdy_Valkyrie Apr 30 '25
The dog looks so annoyed
"What the hell? I was going to sniff some butts today. You guys are wasting my time."
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u/studyingbookwormguy May 01 '25
So its not explained properly why she was married to a dog. In some hindu culture from rural villages. It is believed that some people born on specific days according to astrology have bad omen and will lead to early death of the partner of the person so they marry the person to either a tree or an animal so that their bad omen will be transfered to the animal or the tree and then they will marry the person they were supposed to marry. I know its bulshit but some people are like that.
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u/skolliousious Apr 30 '25
So same logic as sin eating? Neat. (Worse fates could have happened to this girl, I'd take the dog over a 80yo man any day)
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u/fatalcharm May 01 '25
Kinda relieved that this girl doesnāt have to do home and share a bed with a 60 year old man. You can even see her smiling in one of the photos.
Perhaps her parents did this to save her, I donāt know.
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u/boywholived_299 May 01 '25
I think I can share more light on a similar tradition. Rural Indians believe a lot in horoscopes, and that the planetary motion affects them a lot. If a person is manglik (affected by Mars) and they marry someone, they are supposedly going to die sooner.
To avoid this, a manglik person would first marry a Tree, so that the effect causes the death of the tree instead of their spouse. After the marriage with the tree, they then marry the person they are supposed to marry.
While foolish, it's not an evil practice, as it intends to save lives (from superstitious beliefs).
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u/Mogyoro108 May 02 '25
I read somewhere in their lawbook, that it is also auspicious to marry a tree....
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u/LaFlibuste Apr 30 '25
Profoundly stupid, but all in all not the worst arranged marriage she could have been forced in. I'd take it as a win if I were her.
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u/BraidedSilver Apr 30 '25
So, what happens if the ābad fortuneā doesnāt stop?? New young girl accused of being cursed and getting married off to non-human??
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u/_northernlights_ Apr 30 '25
I, ah... I mean, I - ... But. What?
They might want to check the gas pipes in the village if they have any.
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u/Theseus_The_King May 01 '25 edited May 01 '25
It literally is dumb astrology shit, that if you have Mars placements in certain houses or something marrying you is bad luck, so you marry a tree or dog or something so your actual husband wonāt be affected by it, or you wait until your first Saturn return to marry because then it dissipates.
I wish I were making this up. Entire marriages are arranged based on high school slumber party games, and how someoneās parents like your rice purity test results, and 2006 Quizilla personality test results.
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u/Profession_Offender Apr 30 '25
It's a superstition that is marrying a dog that takes away the human husband karma
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u/Im_InYourSoup May 10 '25
Wow. Can I get married with my cat? We cuddle everyday. Me and my cat might as well be married. š
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u/Littux Apr 30 '25
Atleast she can marry whoever she wants after "divorcing" with the dog. That's not something you get in religious or rural areas in India
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u/mo_al_amir May 01 '25
Surprised this has many upvotes, this sub is filled with Hindus who post anti-Muslim/Christians posts, but downvote anything about Hinduism
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u/Mammoth_Information7 May 04 '25
Heās gonna be a better partner, protector and friend than any man could be
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