Mukesh And Nita Ambani Organise An Industrial Scale Sanatani Dharma Wedding With Glitzy Celebrations Over Four Months For National And International Guests

This was the mother and father of tradition observing, and yet modern, big fat Hindu Wedding. Perhaps this is a contradiction in terms, but as the saying goes ‘we are like this only’.

This wedding will be difficult to surpass in scale, size, banquetry, jewels, watches,  presents,wedding outfits, vehicles, jets on hire, star power, associated  razz-ma-tazz -  a potent messaging for years to come.  It is a wedding that has set a record on par with anything that went on in the reign of Louis IV, the Sun King, at Versailles, or at the coronation of the Emperor Bokassa I in the Central African Republic (CAR). Except, here, the essential difference is that the Ambanis will not go bankrupt. Far, very far, from it.

The wedding most deliberately flies in the face of Gandhian simplicity, Macaulay induced squeamishness, notions of taste and vulgarity sought to be imposed by some.

And yet, it ran true to the best traditions of Sanatan Dharma. The Ambanis conducted a Bhandara in Mumbai for four months that fed hundreds of people. They organised and paid for mass weddings of poor people with gifts of clothes, gold for the brides, and rupees one lakh each for the grooms.

Their own celebrations and wedding was unabashed, massive, exuberant and cost some $156 million. Some say, the preliminary bash at Jamnagar alone cost $150 million.

Mukesh and Nita Ambani, who head their second-generation business along with Mukesh’s mother Kokilaben, find themselves near the top of Indian industry. They have spent an estimated 0.5% of their wealth on the four month wedding extravaganza. But then, Mukesh Ambani, 67, is the richest man in Asia, and the 9^th richest man in the world, with a personal net worth of about $ 124 billion.

The wedding and celebrations were criticised by the usual suspects, who want India to be seen as an impoverished country and feel threatened by this strong show of  North Indian Hindu tradition and culture. The Ambanis however are used to it. They put on a similar show for the marriage of their daughter Isha in 2018, for which they had invited American entertainer Beyonce.

This wedding will take time to sink in for its full import, but it spoke to the world of the coming of age, not just of a leading industrial group, but of the Bharat of 2024. One that is on its way shortly to becoming the 3^rd largest economy in the world. One that will go from a $ 4 trillion in GDP to three times as much at the very least, fuelled by its 7% growth rate, the biggest amongst major economies in the world. A country that believes it will be a developed country in every respect by its centenary year 2047.

 The pre-wedding celebrations were kicked off at the Ambani petrochemical complex and city of Jamnagar. Dozens of national and international big-wigs came to it among the 1,200 guests. They included Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.  This time, Rihanna came to perform, as did many Bollywood stars. Diljit Dosanjh  electrified the audience with his performance.

It is also there in Jamnagar that Anant Ambani, the groom, and the youngest Ambani son, works and lives as the resident Director in-charge. Anant Ambani has also created an animal hospital and sanctuary over 3,000 acres in the area. This too was unveiled to the public as an opener, with Anant emphasising it was a sanctuary for traumatised and injured animals, including elephants, and not a zoo.

The Ambanis have restored and rebuilt scores of Hindu temples in the Jamnanagar-Chorwad area in Gujarat, which they hail from. One or two of the temples were featured in the media recently, as part of the wedding build up.

The Ambanis are also major sponsors of Lord Krishna temples, including the Shrinathji Temple, at Nathdwara in Rajasthan. Here too, they made preliminary visits leading up to the auspicious occasion.

Wedding celebrations continued aboard a yacht in Italy, during a four-day cruise in June, from Palermo to the South of France with stops in Rome, Portofino, Genoa and Cannes for a series of parties. Several international singers including The Backsteet Boys and Kate Perry were engaged to entertain the selected eight hundred odd guests. Several restaurants were engaged to provide vegetarian fare such as focaccia, paneer tikka-beetroot, and goat-cheese kebabs. In addition there were lobster sandwiches.

Many locals however, were irate, at the taking over of Portofino exclusively for the Ambani guests. The Genovese complained about the loud music till nearly dawn.The Ambanis paid for the privilege, and all the local authorities were satisfied, if not the uninvited local media.

 And the wedding celebrations culminated in multi-day ceremonies and occasions in Mumbai in mid July.

Prime Minister Modi attended the Ashirwad, held the day after the nuptials.  The final celebrations were entertained by American singer Justin Beiber. The several days here were attended by most of India’s A list actors, others like John Cena, Kim Kardashian, politicians from the ruling party and the opposition, former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson, cricket superstars Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendar Singh Dhoni.

But contrast this with our earlier projections. Fortunately, long gone are the days when Prime Minister Nehru called in a snake charmer to amuse Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1960s - nearly twenty years after independence. A telling photograph of the event was followed up by Mrs Kennedy becoming a guest of the Maharaja of Jaipur to live in a palace, enjoy royal banquets and entertainments, and witness polo matches.

Nothing much was done, it seems, to change the Kiplingesque ‘Jungle Book’ style image of an India of Gunga Din, Fakirs on beds of nails, others who could climb an unsupported rope, and of course, tigers that roamed the forests, still allowed to be hunted by VIP guests from Britain. And yes, snake charmers for the King Cobras.

Prime Minister Nehru saw no contradiction between his ardent Fabian Socialist principles and admiration of Soviet five-year plans which India aped. Alongside, he established the first of top-class government financed higher education institutions, dams, heavy industry. Heavy industry was to take up the ‘commanding heights of the economy’, and be regarded as the modern ‘temples’.

Nehru was notoriously against promoting Hindu temples, Sanatan Dharma and its traditions, because he thought they were both majoritarian, and obscurantist to boot. He stoutly opposed the restoration of Somnath Temple destroyed by Islamic invaders, including Allauddin Khilji, for example. It still got done, with the help of first President of India, Rajendra Prasad and others.   

Subsequent years after Nehru, but persistent socialism inflicted shortages of everything, saw restrictions on the number of wedding guests, scarcity of milk that occasioned bans on milk based sweet meats for weddings and ceremonies. Things were so bad it is difficult to believe nowadays.  

Today we still have erstwhile Maharajahs, but they do much more than play polo and take pictures of wild animals they are banned from hunting. Some are politicians, others are hoteliers, conservationists and industrialists.

 Yes, we are proudly Hindu, but we are also doing everything possible to realise our potential in the modern world. The spectacular wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant is a tribute to this fact.

(1,208 words)

July 14^th, 2024

For: Firstpost/News18.com

Gautam Mukherjee