The Newari community of Nepal has a unique tradition of women’s empowerment called Bel Vivaah, through which women are freed from religious and social seclusion due to widowhood. Bel Vivah is a spiritual and cultural practice that is incorporated in the Newari community to prevent women from being discriminated against during religious ceremonies if her husband passes away. Here’s a report from our special correspondent in Kathmandu.

In Kathmandu Valley, hundreds of girls aged between 5 and 9 were traditionally wed to wood apple fruit representing Lord Vishnu in the ceremony called Bel Vivah. It is an important ritual in the Newar community of the Kathmandu Valley, where young Newar girls are symbolically married to a bel fruit. This practice highlights the deep-rooted traditions of the Newar community, blending spirituality, social customs, and cultural heritage.

The Bel fruit, which never rots, represents Lord Vishnu. The girl is symbolically married to the deity by marrying the fruit, ensuring lifelong protection and freedom from widowhood. Since the girl is first married to a deity, she is never considered a widow, even if her future human husband passes away. This provides social security and religious dignity to Newari women.

The girl undertakes a ceremonial bath and dresses up like a bride. On an auspicious date, a priest called gubhaju performs the wedding ceremony and offers tika to the bride. The wedding is performed traditionally with Hindu marriage rituals, with the Bel fruit placed as the groom. Mantras are chanted, and rituals such as Kanyadaan are performed.

Bel Bibaha is the first of three marriages in a Newar woman’s life. The second symbolic marriage is Gufa Rakhne, where the girl is kept in seclusion and later symbolically married to the Sun. The third marriage is to a human husband.