A baby girl in Bengal has been married by her father to a dog, to ward off the evil eye. Hindu priests have recommended the weird wedding. Her mum objected but we are talking about India so she obviously has no say.
Disha is only 6-month-old but she has early or premature appearance of her teeth, that is, before her annoprasan or rice ceremony - a function when the baby is fed solids for the first time. Because of this, their holinesses reckon the omens aren’t auspicious at all for her.
The solution, it seems, has been to marry her off to someone with lots of teeth, a canine by the name of Pomi (and I hope no Pommies blame the Aussies for this story).
This reminds of a Chinese myth of an immortal dog (or dog fairy?) marrying a woman to produce warrior sons to save the nation. As usual the Japanese borrowed and turned it into an all-time best seller of Hakkenden. The story of Hakkenden is as follows:
"In an area of Japan known as Awa province, there are two families that control the area, the Satomi and the Anzai. The Satomi fall upon hard times and ask the Anzai for help.
Rather than sending aid, Lord Anzai sends troops to destroy the Satomi, who, facing starvation and the Anzai forces, barricade themselves within their castle. Finally, after numerous failed attempts to assassinate Lord Anzai, the Satomi realize that they have no other choice than to surrender.
In desperation, Lord Satomi promises to give the house dog Yatsufusa his daughter Fuse's hand in marriage if Yatsufusa brings him Lord Anzai's head, but this was all in jest. Astonishingly, the dog goes off and returns with Lord Anzai's head.
With their leader dead, the remaining Anzai lose hope and are defeated by the Satomi. However, Yoshizane refuses to uphold his promise, but Fuse insists upon upholding it and leaves with Yatsufusa for the mountains.
A year passes, and Fuse learns in a vision that she is bearing Yatsufusa's offspring and that there is a curse upon the Satomi. About this time, a former retainer Daisuke Kanamari of the Satomi clan comes to rescue Princess Fuse. Tragically, in his attempt to shoot and kill Yatsufusa, he instead shoots both Fuse and Yatsufusa.
Fearing what she may give birth to, Fuse, near death, kills herself. At the moment of her death, the eigth spirit beads from the necklace she is wearing disperse into the four winds.
These eight beads represent the eight dog warriors, who will be born in the following years. Each of them will embody the very ideal inscribed in their beads. In the years following their birth, the 'litter of eight' will encounter one another and learn of their predestined fate - lift the curse on the Satomi."
We trust in the case of baby Disha, her future doesn't evolve into an Indian Hakkenden.
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