Royal nuptials: Varun SJB Rana ties the knot with Padmaja Jadeja

By Shashi Sunny

It may have looked like another mega royal wedding set amidst Rajasthani palaces, but there was a twist to the lavish traditional celebrations. As Varun Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (31) wed Padmaja (30) from the Jadeja royal family earlier this month, it was the first Rana wedding to be held out of Nepal because of the months-long blockades that had locked the Himalayan country.



Padmaja Jadeja and Varun Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana (Image: BCCL)

All the Rana royal ceremonies were performed in Jaipur from February 28 to March 2, spread over three venues — Diggi Palace, Talai Bagh Palace and the Grand Uniara Hotel. The groom is the younger son of Gautam SJB Rana, while the bride belongs to the royal family of Jamnagar in Gujarat. Varun, an architect who looks after the family's hospitality business in Kathmandu, had a baraat that included elephants, horses and camels.



Gautam Rana with Bhavna, Himani, Varun, Virat and Aditya Rana (Image: BCCL)

The almost 1,000 guests included the biggest royal families such as the Kashmir royals, Arvind Singh Mewar, the Scindias, Devyani Rana, Tikka Shatrujit Singh and Geeta Devi of Kapurthala, Randhir Singh of Patiala, Umang Hutheesing, and Kalikesh Singh Deo of Orissa.

(For more royal wedding pictures, check out this ET Lifestyle album on Facebook)



Devraj Singh with Usha Rana (Image: BCCL)

Gautam Rana, who has an interest in jewellery and costumes, was involved with the couple's wardrobe and the delicious non-vegetarian banquet spreads. "My son wore the ceremonial Rana heirloom jaama, an offshoot of the angrakha. The bride also wore the antique Rana wedding dress passed down from her grandmother-in-law. It has gold karchupi work, the Nepali zardozi. An heirloom tiara and veil covered her head. The Rana traditional chaurasi byanjan of 84 dishes to welcome the newly-weds was also organised," says Gautam Rana.



Meghan Singh Deo, Gautam SJB Rana, SJB Rana and Mallika Pande (Image: BCCL)

Varun's elder brother Virat wed Himani Katoch from a Himachal Pradesh royal family in a similar extravaganza spread across Jaipur and Kathmandu in 2011.



Urvashi Khemkha and Bhavna Rana (Image: BCCL)




Padmini Devi, Abhimanyu Singh and Dushyant Singh of Dhami (Image: BCCL)



Vashundhra Raje (Image: BCCL)