Stray Dog Marries Girl

M O H A N P U R, India, July 15 -- A 4-year old Indian girl has married a stray dog in a traditional Hindu service prompted by an astrologer who told her father the ceremony would transfer the evil effects of the planet Saturn from the girl to the dog.

The girl, Anju, had suffered several illnesses and hadfallen in ponds, fractured bones and burnt her hand in thekitchen, the father, Subal Karmakar, said. “The astrologer saidthe evil effect of Saturn can be countered by marrying the childto a dog,” he said.

Anju was married on Monday with Hindu priests chanting hymnsin front of 150 of the 250 residents in a village, a cluster of15 huts amid paddy fields 35 miles north of Calcutta.

Residents of the village, mostly illiterate, enjoyed thefeast but ridiculed the ceremony. “He is superstitious, but whyshould I care if he wants to waste money and give us a feast? Ienjoyed the rice, meat, curd, lentil and sweets,” said FakirChand Durlab, Karmakar’s neighbor.