89 Wives but Still Trails Krishna : India Man Running Marriage Marathon

It is said that Krishna, the fertility god of the cowherds and a favorite of the shepherdesses in Hindu mythology, had as many as 32,000 lovers.

India’s Mogul emperors and maharajahs had harems of nubile maidens numbering in the hundreds.

Keeping that lusty legacy alive today is a 61-year-old patent medicine salesman who claims to have wed 89 women and lost an inherited fortune in the process.

But Udaynath Dakhin Ray, a contented, if broke, local celebrity, vows to make it an even 100.

“I must have 100 wives before I die and I will,” said Ray, who is planning to take a 19-year-old as his next bride. “The only intoxication in my life is sex, and I love it.”

With a wink and a grin, he said he already has offers from seven prospective brides.

Ray’s amorous exploits are part of the accepted lore in this village in eastern Orissa state, 90 miles south of Calcutta. His neighbors, the police and his current and former wives all agree that Ray is a master of matrimony.

However, everyone but Ray has lost count. And no one but Ray cares. He is obsessed.

“A young woman makes a man younger in mind, body and spirit,” said Ray, whose library is filled with books on film heroines and sexual fitness. “A woman is a man’s better half, so many women only make a better man.”

Polygamy Illegal but Tolerated

Polygamy is illegal but not unknown in India, especially in rural areas where a rich man sometimes takes several wives.

Ray’s marriages may be a record of sorts. His claims were widely reported in the Indian press, but the Guinness Book of World Records only lists the record number of marriages in traditionally monogamous countries.

Ray said his marital adventures began 36 years ago when his 15-year-old first wife abandoned him. Two weeks after their marriage, he went back to Calcutta for school finals and she returned to her father’s village. She never came back.

“My first wife pushed me into this by leaving me,” Ray said. “The humiliation was unbearable. People gossiped.”

Ray vowed to prove that he was virile and desirable. “I decided to fill my bed with women, to marry 99 other girls to hit a century.”

Two years later he married again. He hasn’t stopped since.

Ray now lives under the same thatched roof with one wife and visits another regularly in another house he owns in the village.

Ray, a slender, pleasant-looking man, said he once had 16 squabbling, competing spouses living together under one roof. Most walked out in disgust.

He doesn’t know the whereabouts of many of his mates. Some died and most abandoned him. Many just went back to their families, but some divorced him and sued for his property. He said he has only 11 children, including three at home.

Ray said there are precedents of polygamy in Hindu mythology and Indian history. He said that by one account Krishna had 32,000 lovers.

“Even my grandfather had three wives, my uncle had four and my father had two,” Ray said. “So why not me?”

Although Ray was born a wealthy man, his extravagance and lawsuits by wives have reduced him to poverty.

But that has not discouraged him from marrying poor girls who bring him gifts. He spends less than $8 on weddings these days.

“The new wife will have to live with me in poverty,” he said. “If she likes it, she stays; if she doesn’t, she goes home. I never try to bring them back. I just marry again.”

Although Ray is breaking the law, he shrugged. “Never mind the law. It has not stopped me yet and it cannot stop me.”

A local police superintendent agreed, tolerantly calling Ray “a much-married man.” Unless there is a formal complaint, the police do nothing, explained Officer Gour Chandra Kar. No one has complained.

Most of his neighbors like Ray, don’t care about his personal affairs and appreciate his kindness in treating poor villagers who are ill. Many don’t know that bigamy is against the law.

Ray, asked the secret of his success and stamina, said he is a teetotaler, doesn’t drink coffee or tea, and doesn’t smoke.

“I will tell you my secret,” he said. “If an old man like me can marry young women, he will become young.”