Marriage Alliance

Marriage Alliance

One day, I asked my dad(when he was bed ridden during his final Journey) why Sh Sham Dass and Sh Bhagwan Dass did allow Sh Murli Dhar to get exclusive control of prime property in Loyalpur at the first instance. He told me that as the two older brothers were educated and had reached high government positions, the youngest brother will not be doing any serious work. So he was told by his brothers to go to Loyalpur and just manage the property which was a cash cow. They also managed a private privileged job of a manager for young Sh Brahm Dass in Loyalpur so as to attract him for moving to Loyalpur. They, in fact, were initially reluctant to leave a cozy place like Multan where the family had lived for Generations.

Sh Murli Dhar and his son Sh Brahm Dass settled quickly in a place which was recently being developed into a big commerce center. There were a lot of opportunities for everybody. As there was no one to supervise or check them, both father and son became very powerful. Sh Brahm Dass was of very dominant nature, and stopped listening to his Dad. He overpowered his dad and grabbed all the powers in his own hand.

Sh Brahm Dass was very tall, fair and handsome and belonged to a wealthy landlord family. He was the most eligible bachelor and many in the power and established families wanted to have marriage alliance with him. A proposal for his marriage came from Amritsar. Sh Brahm Dass went to Amritsar to have a look at the girl. He got so much charmed and won over by the young and very beautiful city girl from Amritsar, that he wanted to marry her at the spot without waiting for any ceremonies. Many members of the family did not approve the family with the alliance this way. As the alliance was proposed from different out of our 'Biradari', the wiser and old wanted to know more and investigate the new family who looked suspect. Sh Brahm Dass will not budge from his intentions. Finally every body had to accede to his stubborn attitude and the marriage was agreed to.

There was a grand marriage, and many family members came all the way from Multan and Muzaffararh to Loyalpur for proceed to attend the marriage ceremony at Girl's place in Amritsar. The 'Anand Karaj' took place with great great tradition and rituals. The problem started in the next morning, when the bride was ready to go in a 'Doli' on its way to Loyalpur. There was a lot of hush hush and ear talk. The boys family came to know that everything which was offered in the shape of dowry like jewelry and costly silk clothes were found missing during the past night.

On knowing this, Sh Brahm Dass got furious, and asked for explanation from his servants he had brought from Loyalpur and Multan. He abused them and even hit them with a hunter very badly before Sh Kanwar Bhan his maternal uncle intervened and tried to stop him from being so harsh. Sh Kanwar Bhan pressured his mom (his sister) to control and stop him from the madness. Now he had lost everything like the jeweler, the silken clothes, the utensils and what not.

Sh Kanwar Bhan being an army man was alert and found out from his own investigations that the girl's side had malice designs. They had pre-arranged all this and had returned everything to the shops they had bought from. This became a talk of the town in Multan.

To be continued and edited...

© preet mohan singh., all rights reserved.