The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1916-10-28
HINDUS We'd With
BRAKMIN RITES
Strange Ceremony in New York
Marks Romance Begun in
PARKWAY India.
BOTH ARE COLLEGE STUDENTS
Incense and Flowers Are Most I'M
portant Feature Of the Ceremony
instead of Ring, Bride and
Groom Exchange Garlands.

New York.-A romance which began
In faraway India eliminated here in
the marriage of two young members OF
the Hindu priestly caste, both students
at Columbia university. The bride was
Miss Radhabai Pawar, a Brahmlnee,
who lives at Whittier hall, and the
bridegroom was Shankar NJ. Pagan, a
Brahmin, both sent to this country by
the government of Baroda to complete
their education.
The ceremony was celebrated at the
Vedanta society's meeting place, 236
Central Park West, and lasted about
20 minutes. A formal Brahmin cere-
mony takes up three days, but Mr..
Pagan and his bride have adopted
many of the American customs and
they welcomed the shorter ceremony.
To be married in an orthodox Brah-
min temple they would have been
obliged to travel to Boston or to San
Francisco, so they decided to be
welded by a member of the Vedanta
society.
About 80 persons were present, in
Guiding some of the brides classmates,
and u group of young Hindu students
who are finishing their education at
Columbia and New York university,
all friends of the bridegroom.
The ceremony was impressive, and
for a short time it seemed as if the
mysticism of India, the spirit of Veda,
had settled upon this quiet corner in
Central Park West.
Wear Native Costumes.
The couple wore their native bridal
costumes. The bride, who is twenty
six years old, was dressed in a white
silk sari, while the bridegroom, her
senior by one year, wore a turban,
shawl, and dhoti.
1t was a ceremony of love, of flow
ers, of incense. In all East Indian
ceremonies incense is q most necessary
thing, and it hung in purplish clouds
over the young couple who sat while
the priest, Swami BOdhaianda, read
verses from the sacred books of In
dia, the Mantras of the Vedas. In.
stead of the ring ceremony, the bride
and bridegroom exchanged garlands OF
flowers. There were flowers every,
where, it seemed.
Hindus have married American
women, but this is the first marriage
on record in this country where 8
Hindu youth married a Hindu maid
After the ceremony the bride anC
bridegroom, followed by their intimate
friends, were whisked off in American
style to the Hindustan Association OF
America, which occupies a plaiI
brown-stone house at 1854 West 120tl
street, where a supper of IndiaI
dishes was served.
But before the wedding feast tn,
guests assembled in the large meet
ing room and blessed the bride witt
speeches. There also the mysticism o
India and the materialism of Americi
i~ntermingled.
On a small table, a soft golden ugh
fell from a Buddha lamp, and in an
other corner an electric light glowet
through an urn of ~alabaster, casting
white light upon the bride. She wa
surrounded by fragrant flowers, ant
upon her ears fell the songs Of he
native land, mostly love songs. Ant
some of them came from a phone
graph, and other love melodies wer
sung, accompanied by a parlor organ
Feast of Indian Dishes.
All sorts of rare and highly spicel
dishes rellshed by the Hindus wer
prepared by a Hindu chef for the fees'
The bride and bridegroom sat at tn
head Of the table, the bridegroom
meantime, having changed the robes o
his land for American dress.
Later the newlyweds left on thei