In Madhya Pradesh‘s Alirajpur area, a 42-year-old man named Samarth Maurya who had been living with three women that included Nanbai, Mela, and Sakri for 15 years married them all at the same time, following tribal customs.

The wedding ceremony took place in the Morifalia sub-village of Nanpur panchayat from Friday to Sunday.

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Maurya’s first live-in partner eloped 15-16 years ago, and his second love affair became a live-in partnership roughly 10 years ago. Around four years ago, his third live-in partner fell in love with him.

One of the newlywed wives works as a peon in a school, while the other two look after the extended family’s agriculture and household affairs.

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The man has six children with the three women, all of whom are between the ages of 30 and 35. The children were also involved in the three-day wedding traditions. 

People have questioned whether a man from a tribal group can marry more than one lady at a time, and Samrath Mourya, the previous Sarpanch of Nagpur village, has become the talk of the town.

“Presently, I can’t comment if marrying more than one woman in a tribal community is legitimate but tribes have their customs and rituals and we respect it,” Alirajpur district collector Raghwendra Singh, told Times of India.

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“As per the customs and rituals, I took ‘phere’ with all three women in the same mandap,” Mourya stated.

He went on to say that the community would now allow them to participate in all of the temple’s rituals. He also stated that his children’s weddings would be held according to tradition.

The tradition of live-in relationships known as Lugudi-Lada is sanctified in the Bhilala tribe culture and rituals, according to educated Bilala tribe sources in the Alirajpur district. It is also not illegal to convert three live-in relationships into marriage one by one in a single mandap.