THE DAILY TELEGRAMS


Re-marriage of four Onge widows solemnized

Port Blair, Jan 31

For the first time, a unique event took place recently at Dugong
Creek, the Onge settlement where four male members of the tribe were
persuaded to remarry four widows who suddenly lost their spouses in
December 2008. Two of the grooms are widowers and two unmarried youth.
With this, an attempt has been made to achieve the twin objective of
preventing the dwindling population of this tribe, apart from giving the
young widows an opportunity of having a life partner. This becomes all
the more important as all four ladies have infant babes-in-arms. This
tribe has a total population of only 94, 24 of them being adult males,
32 females and 23 boys and 15 girls.

Tragedy struck the Onges recently when eight of them died due to
consumption of spurious fluid found on the sea shore. The incident
attracted the attention of the Andaman Adim Janjati Vikas Samity
(AAJVS), a body which oversees the entire gamut of tribal affairs and a
well thought decision was taken after consulting the Research
Investigator AAJVS and obtaining the consent of the Onge tribal
Chieftain, Shri Badaraju, First Chief and Tai Second Chief to persuade
the widows to remarry within the tribe.

Accordingly, four widows were paired at a function held at the Onge
hamlet at Dugong Creek, which was attended by the Secretary (Tribal
Welfare), Mrs. S K P Sodhi besides other officials of Tribal Welfare
Department. The community hall was be decked with flowers and coconut
leaves crafted by the Onges themselves. The four pairs of bride and
groom were brought in and the marriages were solemnized in a tribal
tradition. They were presented gifts and a feast was arranged with a
live pig, an integral part of tribal feasting, informed Dr. Probob Kumar
Sircar, Research Investigator, AAJVS, Dugong Creek in a communication,
which also added that few more similar marriages would be ceremonized
shortly as there are three more widows and one unmarried girl, looking
for an appropriate match.
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