Udaipur, March 17, 2025 - It was the beginning of the reform movement in the Dawoodi Bohra community and a large section of the community members from Udaipur were up in protest against the cult of the Bohra clergy. As a direct challenge to the Bohra clergy, the members from the Dawoodi Bohra reformist group organised a samooh nikah (mass wedding) on March 16, 1975, in which 89 couples from the community tied the knot. This went on to become the largest mass wedding witnessed in Udaipur in that period.

Yesterday, Dawoodi Bohra Youth in Udaipur celebrated the golden jubilee of the first mass wedding organised by the community on March 16, 1975.

Till that point, marriages in the community, like every other private event, could be conducted only with the permission of the Syedna, who is the religious head of the Dawoodi Bohra community. However, the reformists, who had risen up in protest against the alleged "totalitarian authority" of the Syedna, had to take this bold step to conduct the mass wedding without his consent because of the prevailing circumstances of unrest within the community.

The samooh nikah or samoohik vivah became a landmark event, marking a turning point in the Dawoodi Bohra reform movement. The event witnessed a large gathering of more than 25,000 people, which included members of the community, political leaders, leaders of the Central Board of Dawoodi Bohra Community (CBDBC) and Bohra Youth Sansthan, social workers, scholars from Udaipur and beyond.  The erstwhile Maharaja of Udaipur also attended the event. This participation underscored the support to this movement.

The unique element in this samooh nikah was that the nikah ceremony was solemnised in the presence of priests belonging to all faiths. Three Muslim Qazis performed several nikahs on that day.

The mass wedding received wide publicity across the globe. The event was covered by contemporary media and the nature of the occasion led even the Government of India's Film Division, the BBC and a German television channel to cover the wedding. National and regional dailies also gave daily pre-event and post event coverage to this mass wedding.

The success of this event marked a significant victory for the reform movement in Udaipur.

The intellectual community of Udaipur was wholeheartedly one with the cause of the Bohra Youth. As a mark of its support, 133 teachers of Udaipur University brought out a jointly-signed printed pamphlet congratulating the Bohra Youth for its courage and determination. The pamphlet was widely distributed and said, among other things:

“The educated community of this city is fully aware of the activities of the Bohra Youth. It was through the liberation movement of the Youth that the common man became aware of the degree of control exercised by the high priest Sayedna Dr Mohammed Burhanuddin, over the Dawoodi Bohra Jamaat. A Dawoodi Bohra remains, from birth to death, a slave to the Sayedna's permission. Without his permission, let alone marriage, even a dead body cannot be buried... A Dawoodi Bohra can exist only with his permission. He ceases to be Dawoodi Bohra without his permission...In this way Sayedna Saheb is running a parallel government and is enforcing his own laws as against the representative government of the country... No conscious citizen of this country can accept such totalitarian authority of any religious priest.. We, the teachers of Udaipur University heartily congratulate the Bohra Youth on its first grand victory and wish a happy conjugal life to all those who are getting married today.”

With inputs from Progressive Dawoodi Bohras website