Frogs marriage held in Udupi to invoke rain gods

The residents of Udupi in coastal Karnataka, which is in the grip of a dry spell, were witness to a bizarre spectacle of “marriage of frogs” to invoke the rain gods.

With monsoon playing truant and causing concern among the farmers of the region, a local citizens’ organization decided to organize a marriage of frogs on Tuesday that is believed to cause showers.

The organization’s leader Nithyananda, who is also the Udupi City Municipal Council member, and his followers ensured that the marriage of the amphibians had all the elements of a traditional wedding.

A pair of jumbo frogs, a male and a female, were put on a decorated push cart and taken in a procession through the main thoroughfares of the town. Several curious onlookers watched the spectacle before the procession culminated at the Clock Tower in the town, where the marriage rites were performed in a traditional style.

Nithyananda told reporters that he had organized the marriage of frogs to appease the rain gods as the rains had failed this time. “The entire coastal belt is in the grip of a drought. We are experiencing a dry spell at a time when it should have been raining heavily. The farmers are a worried lot”, he said.

“Our elders used to say that the croaking of frogs heralds rains. Hence, I undertook this marriage of frogs”, he justified.

However, the rationalists have criticized the superstitious practice of arranging the marriage of frogs. Many rationalists have laughed off the age-old belief to invoke rain gods as superstitious idea in an era of cloud-seeding to trigger rainfall.