In the first known gay marriage at India’s legendary tribute to love, the Taj Mahal, two young Swedish women tied the knot following traditional Hindu rituals conducted by a priest at the Mahadeva Shiva temple in Agra. The two women, aged 18 and 19, were initially refused by the priest, Dharm Das. But after promising to be lifelong disciples of the priest and giving offerings to the temple, he changed his mind. Read the full story

Hindu activist Rajan Zed’s recent request to the Icelandic parliament to include a Hindu prayer in the opening of parliament ceremony on 1st October has been rejected.

The request was handled by the Deputy Secretary General of Althingi (Iceland’s parliament), Thorsteinn Magnusson, MeriNews reports. “There is a long tradition for conducting a Lutheran mass at the opening of the Parliament and there are no plans to change this tradition,” Magnusson said.

On 1st October annually since 1845, the new session of Althingi opens with a mass in the Domskirkjan Cathedral organised by the Evangelical Lutheran Church (the state church in Iceland).

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