Hindus have thanked Kansas’s Overland Park City Council for unanimously approving the permit in its August 18 meeting to allow an elephant for wedding festivities on September six.
Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, commended the Overland Park City Council for respecting the age old Hindu traditions by granting this permit. Zed urged all city councils and county boards/commissions of USA to allow such usage.
Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that it was tradition in Hindu weddings for the bridegroom to travel to wedding venue riding on a horse or elephant in a procession accompanied by family and friends.
Rajan Zed further said that it was very comforting to know that Hindu traditions received a warm welcome in Kansas.
Overland Park, whose tagline is “Above and beyond, by design” and which is home to a “train garden” and “Shim Sham Shimmy” sculpture; has been ranked in top 10 Best Places to Live, one of the Best Places to Raise Your Kids, and among America’s 10 Best Places to Grow Up. Carl R. Gerlach and John Skubal are Mayor and Council President respectively. Prominent people associated with it include actors Paul Rudd, Sarah Lancaster, Jason Sudeikis, Rob Riggle; and film director Darren Lynn Bousman.
Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal. There are about three million Hindus in USA.