‘Scarcity of brides’ hits Old Mysore region

About a month ago, residents of Maduvanahalli in Kollegal taluk of Chamarajanagar district witnessed the bizarre sight of a youth perched on the higher reaches of a metal structure supporting the overhead high-tension cables passing through the village.

Notwithstanding the cries of his mother and pleas by other villagers, who had gathered beneath, cautioning him against taking any extreme step, the youth, identified as Masanashetty, 27, waved at the people and held the high-tension electric wire with his hands to be instantaneously electrocuted.

Though rumours abound about his failed love life, his suicide has been attributed by the family to their search for a suitable life partner yielding no result, a pattern that has become common in the rural hinterland of the Old Mysore region. Masanashetty had lapsed into depression following the futile search for a bride.

“It has become really difficult to find brides nowadays in the villages,” said Nataraj, a journalist with a vernacular daily in Kollegal, who has also been searching for an alliance for his son for the last two years, but in vain.

Appealing to almighty

Given the scarcity of brides, particularly for youth engaged in farming activities, young men from different villages across Mandya district have been taking out padayatras to religious shrines in Malai Mahadeshwara (MM) Hills situated in Hanur taluk of Chamarajanagar district for the last few years.

One such padayatra was taken out in March this year by a group of 50 young men from Averahalli in Mandya district to M.M. Hills. One of the youths, who was part of the more than 110-km-long padayatra, said seeking “divine intervention” in their quest for a life partner was one of the main reasons for their march.

“We will pray for good rains and a good harvest also. But, we will be seeking the blessings of the Almighty to help us get brides,” said the youth while expressing disappointment over the girls and their parents spurning matrimonial alliances from young men engaged in farming activities in rural parts of the State.

“They prefer alliances from men who are in government service and possess property in cities like Bengaluru and Mysuru. If nobody marries children of farmers, what would be their fate?” he asked.

Brahmacharigala Sangha

Though the tradition of padayatra to religious shrines had been around for a long time with elders, who were part of the padayatra, stopping by the villages enroute and looking for suitable matrimonial alliances for their children, K.M. Shivaprasad from Malavalli taluk of Mandya district, who is also the founder of Akhila Karnataka Brahmacharigala Sangha, said the bachelors themselves started taking out padayatras about three years ago.

Shivaprasad, also a bachelor himself, recalled their first padayatra planned about three years ago after a hopelessly poor response from eligible brides for a mass marriage programme organised by a local religious mutt.

“While thousands of eligible grooms registered for the programme, the number of brides barely crossed 250,” he claimed. Hence, they planned a padayatra of young men from the villages, who were not able to find brides even after crossing 30 years, to the M.M. Hills. Film actor Daali Dhananjaya flagged the padayatra from Venkateshwara Temple in K.M. Doddi in February 2023.

Explaining the gravity of the situation, Shivaprasad said his native T. Kagepura village in Mandya district has about 900 registered voters out of whom about 35 are bachelors past their mid-thirties, whose search for brides has remained futile so far. Similarly, the nearby villages of Talagavadi and Nelakamanhalli, which are slightly bigger than their village, have about 100 such bachelors each, he said.

“There are no girls available for youth born between 1985 and 1995. The few who were available for men in this age group are already married,” he said.

Politicians step in

Meanwhile, the scarcity of brides for young men in the Old Mysore region has not remained just a social problem. Acknowledging the “bride crisis”, Janata Dal (S), which enjoys widespread popularity among the people of the region, announced an incentive of ₹2 lakh to women marrying sons of farmers in the State in its manifesto released ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections. During the election rallies, former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy hoped the incentive would encourage girls to marry sons of farmers.

Even the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) took up the cudgels on behalf of the bachelors after the polls by petitioning Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to announce an incentive of ₹5 lakh from the government for brides marrying young farmers in the State Budget of 2024.

KRRS leader Badagalapura Nagendra pointed out that there were men from the farming community who are unmarried, even though they are 45 years old. “Finding brides for the young farmers has become a social problem because of the neglect of agriculture. In the absence of schemes for making agriculture a prosperous activity, many farmers are abandoning agriculture and migrating to urban areas,” he lamented. Nagendra had also sought a loan of ₹25 lakh at simple interest to help the couple become economically strong by practising agriculture or allied activities.

What girls prefer

At a time when most matchmakers do not evince interest in the search for brides by sons of farmers, H.L. Yamuna, who runs a matrimonial service for bachelor-farmers among others, said the girls nowadays, most of whom are also educated, are very particular about the financial security of their would-be partners. They prefer youth employed in either government services or the Information Technology sector, drawing handsome salaries in urban areas like Bengaluru.

“The girls themselves perform the due diligence by not only checking social media profiles, but also making sharp inquiries,” she said while narrating an incident in which a girl found out that a boy’s actual share in an agricultural property was just a fraction after division of the family property.

Breaking barriers

Over the last few weeks, Shivaprasad said families from villages in Mandya and neighbouring districts have begun bringing brides from North Karnataka for their grooms. Also, a few youths have started breaking the caste barriers and marrying girls outside their castes. “But, a majority of such men are youngsters. Men born between 1985 and 1995 are still finding the going tough”, he said.

“When we bachelors meet informally, we wonder why partners meant for us are not to be found. Isn’t it against the laws of nature?” he questioned, highlighting the key question of disparity in the gender ratio.

Dropping sex ratio

According to Karnataka’s Civil Registration System (CRS) data, the child sex ratio at birth in Karnataka had dropped from 947 girls against 1,000 boys in 2021 to 929 girls against 1,000 boys in 2022. The gender disparity was found to be quite alarming in certain districts like Mandya, where it was 877 girls against 1,000 boys.

It is not surprising that one of the State’s most sensational illegal female foeticide rackets in recent times was unearthed in Mandya district, where pre-natal sex determination tests were reportedly carried out in a jaggery unit. Among the thirteen people arrested were a doctor and his lab technician, who had allegedly performed 900 abortions in the three years.

After the racket was unearthed, the government took several steps, like announcement of cash rewards for people carrying out decoy operations, barring entry of attenders or relatives with the pregnant women to the ultrasonography room, and recommending an enhancement in the prison term and penalty for violation of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques rules. So, Shivaprasad suspects that the rampant female foeticide during the 1990s could be the reason for the present crisis of brides in the region.

(Those having suicidal tendencies can call Arogya Sahayavani helpline at 104.)