Friends, I've got an exciting news to share with all of you. The Sunday before this, I was one of the fortunate guests to witness the first Jain vegan wedding of India. This indicates the beginning of a new cultural shift, deeper understanding of ethics and re-defining and re-evaluation of the value system as it is widely (mis-) understood today.

So What's a Vegan Wedding?

Vegan weddings are similar to any other wedding but due to their adherence to the principles of compassion, ethics and animal-equality, no animal derived products and services are used in the entire function. So apart from restraining from animal flesh, eggs, dairy, honey etc. in the preparation of meals; no items made of leather, wool, fur, silk, pearl jewellery or animal rides are used. Thus vegans through their own lifestyle choices try to save the lives of all sentient beings and minimize the violence in the world while living their life sustainably.

What is a Jain Wedding?

Jain religion is primarily based on the principle of non-violence and non-possession. The leading principles are expressed by:
"AHIMSA PARMODHARMA" i.e. "Non-violence is the supreme religion"
&
"JIO AUR JINE DO" meaning "Live & Let Live".

Thus they not only practice to save the lives of all sentient beings but also try to minimize the harm to all life forms. For example, they don't consume root vegetables like potatoes, onion, ginger, garlic, carrot etc. feremented food like pickle, fungi like mushroom and even fruits like figs which are naturally produced after the trapping of several wasps.

But probably due to the influence of Hinduism, they started consuming dairy products like milk, ghee (clarified butter), ice-creams etc.

How Was Neha & Ashwin's Marriage Different?

Their ceremony was the first to upheld the principle of Ahimsa, Karuna & Daya to the logically and practically possible levels as on today, setting an entirely new benchmark for one and all.

Marriage Procession

Almost all marriages use atleast one mare on which the bridegroom rides and all other guests walk along with him dancing or jumping in merriment. Sometimes there are multiple pair of lead horses and an elephant too to make the celebration look more royal. So riding on a mare to mean getting married has become an adage. But in this procession all age old and established but cruel & oppressive traditions were ignored to set new and progressive traditions.

Bridegroom Refused To Ride On Any Animal

Yes, no animal rides was part of this procession ceremony.

No Animal-Derived Musical Instrument Was Used

There were no musical instruments except numerous dholaks (a tomtom with drumheads on both the ends) which were made of wood and plastic only.

No firecrackers were used

The whole marriage procession and ceremony was organized between the Sunrise & the Sunset.

Food & Delicacies:

Perfect vegan alternatives for all popular Indian dishes were available

There were icecreams, kulfis, 3 varieties of halwa, rabdi, dahi bade, fruit cream, paneer-masala, matar-paneer, kadhi, rajbhog, shrikhand, tea, coffee, kela-bada (raw banana is used as substitue for potatoes), kheer etc. There were about 75 dishes to savour. And everyone of those was yummy to say the least. Guests couldn't identify the absence of dairy in these dishes until told about it.

All dishes were boneash-free

There was no bonechina wares to be seen. Yet, the plates were elegant Diva range of bone-ash-free La Opala brand.

Washrooms were provided with animal fat free soaps viz. Medimix brand

The blankets served to guests were not made of any animal wool

But these were made using artificial fibre. And I really had a peaceful sleep under it.

The event drew a lot of media attention and was covered in all prominent TV channels, Newspapers, magazines and radio stations.

I'd like to share one news channel link here for your visual pleasure:

The above video is in Hindi.

Here's a link for English coverage:
Neha and Ashwin's Jain Wedding had 75 Vegan Dishes!

I hope you would find it interesting.