Photo of father and daughter from Hindu wedding viral with false claims

A photo circulating widely on social media shows a woman, who appears to be a bride, sitting on the lap of an aged man surrounded by a crowd clapping in celebration. It is claimed that the aged man is a Brahmin priest blessing the bride by making her sit on his lap. Users have questioned the practice and/or the intentions of the aged man while sharing the photo. 

X (formerly Twitter) user @mahakaalkabaap tweeted this picture and wrote, “What kind of blessing is the Brahmin priest giving to the bride by making her sit on his lap? Is this a new tradition started by Brahmins? Is this what is called #BrahminGenes?” (archive)

अपनी जांघों बैठाकर नववधु को ब्राम्हण पंडित जी यह कोनसा आशीर्वाद दे रहें है। क्या यह ब्राम्हणों द्वारा नई परंपरा शुरु हो रही है❓
क्या इसी को #BrahminGenes कहा जा रहा है❓ pic.twitter.com/fSn9pP81C3

— 👻 भटकती परमात्मा 👻 (@mahakaalkabaap) September 29, 2024

Another X user, @sudamagareeb6, tweeted the same picture disagreeing with the practice, and wrote, “Are uncle………….” (archive)

Are uncle.………….……….. pic.twitter.com/hzge79uNXJ

— सुदामा (@sudamagareeb6) September 30, 2024

Several other users have shared the photo with diverse claims. Most of the users questioned the actions of the ‘Brahmin priest’.

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Fact Check

A reverse image search of the picture led us to an Instagram post by Sevensteps.in, a page run by a wedding photographer based in Pune, Maharashtra, named Yogesh Repale. He shared the photo on September 3, 2024.

The post comprises 6 pictures from a wedding, with the first picture going viral. The caption of the post reads, “The love between a father and daughter is forever, even as she starts a new chapter”. This suggests that the man and the woman seen in the photo are father and daughter.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Seven Steps Photography & Films (@sevensteps.in)

We reached out to the photographer, Yogesh Repale, who confirmed to Alt News that the picture showed a father and a daughter from a South Indian wedding he had shot. He also told us that the moment shown in the viral photo captured a custom in Hindu wedding called ‘Kanyadaan’. The aged man seen in the image is not a Brahmin priest, but the father of the bride. 

The ritual of ‘Kanyadaan’ (kanya: daughter; daan: the act of giving) is a widely practiced aspect of Hindu weddings, where the bride is handed over to the groom by her father to be taken care of. In Tamil weddings, the custom is such that the groom is asked to be seated on a designated spot and the bride is seated on her father’s lap and a coconut is placed on her hand. Then they together hand over the coconut to the groom. This symbolizes that the bride is given to the groom to be looked after like her father had done.  

To sum up, the viral claims on social media around the photo are false and/or misleading. The aged man in the image is the father of the bride and not a Brahmin priest. The photograph is captured during the ritual called ‘Kanyadaan’ followed in Hindu weddings.