One of America's top Hindu scholars has urged Miley Cyrus to get serious about her wedding plans and hit the library if she's truly planning to tie the knot in India.
Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, has picked up on reports suggesting the singer and her fiance Liam Hemsworth have their sights set on a Hindu wedding in the Himalayas this summer (17), and if they're true, he wants the celebrity couple to get serious about their "spiritual union".
He's convinced Miley will want to be as sincere and respectful to his faith as possible, and so he has given her a little homework ahead of her nuptials.
"She should read some Hindu scriptures, like Bhagavad-Gita, and learn Sanskrit as most part of the Hindu wedding ceremony is conducted in Sanskrit, to really internalise the spirit of the ceremony," he told WENN.
"Miley will be reciting some mantras, including asking for the long life of Liam and love between the couple from God Agni, while Liam, in his mantra, will be asking, among other things, for an irrevocable relationship between husband-wife. Another mantra by Liam would urge Miley to live with him for a hundred years and give him offspring, as producing offspring is considered one of the duties of the married couple."
And Zed advises the couple the wedding ceremony could last several hours, including the saptapadi, kanyadaan, and pani-grahan rituals, while the bride's father, Billy Ray Cyrus, is expected to gift the groom a cow.
The couple should also start collecting the items required for the ceremony, including "vermillion powder, coconut, turmeric, betel-nut, Indian sweetmeat, honey, curd, cow-dung, conch, ghee, a Lord Ganesha statue, mangalsutra (sacred thread)."
But should the reports be true, Miley and Liam are destined to have a long and happy marriage if they choose to wed in a Hindu ceremony - according to the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., Hindus have the lowest divorce rate than any other religious group in the U.S.
