MARRIAGE PATTERN IN INDIAN SOCEITY

Types Of Hindu Marriage

Love Marriage – What would be the better way of marriage ? Both arrange & love marriages have their own share of frills & follies. To be precise, love marriages or “self-arranged marriage” are those marriages in which two people decide to tie a knot for life-time after realizing a mutual affection & attraction for each other. Both know each other well & only after much thinking this decision made. Love marriages are becoming more & more common day by day. There are two major problems with love marriages. On being that there can be a lot of expectation from each other. This dependence develop because each may strongly believe that their spouse knows them well.

Arrange Marriage – The tradition of arrange marriage is ancient. The concept is to generate a family to live with people believe that presence of a family beauties the journey of life & saves a person from the anxieties associates with loneliness. In today’s world of tight professional schedules one hardly get time to pee let alone
finding a life partner. Parents & matchmakers may arrange the marriage. In arrange marriage it is often seen that one does not feel the freedom to explore much. There is always seen some form of hesitation & the decisions depend upon what the “family” may think. Both arranged & love marriages thrive on mutual care & understanding.

Child Marriage – According to UNICEF’s “State of the world’s children 2009” report, 47% of India’s women aged 20-24 were married before legal age of 18, with 56% in rural areas. The report also showed that 40% of world’s child marriage occur in India.

The female age at marriage was lowest in Rajasthan (17.5) followed by states of Madhya Pradesh & Bihar (17.6 & 17.8 respectively) & it was highest in Kerala (22.3). ( Source : Census of India 1991).
Child marriage has been traditionally prevalent in India & continue to this day. Although child marriage was outward in 1860, it still a common practice.

Under the terms of Child Marriage (Amendment) Act, 1978, child marriage is considered illegal. According to this act the minimum age of marriage was fixed at 18 years for girls & 21 years for boys. According to “National Plan Of Action For Children 2005” (publishing by the department of women & child development of India) a goal has been set to eliminate child marriage completely by 2010.

Polygamy – Polygamy can be defined as any “form of in marriage in which a person has more than one spouse”. Polygamy was practiced in many sections of Hindu society in ancient times. Connecting polyandry there was one example of polyandry in ancient Hindu epic Mahabharat, Draupadi marries five pandava brother as a message to human society. Regarding polygamy in Ramayana, father of Ram king Dasarath has three wives.
Polygamy is illegal in India for Hindu under the Hindu marriage act.

Widow Remarriage – Hindu widow in India are socially prohibited from remarriage, because the Hindu religion eulogises ascetic virtues. Marriage after widowhood is contrary to this idea. It seems from the view that marriage is a union of souls & not merely of bodies, & that the widow is going to join her husband at heaven after her death or in this world in her next birth.
The Indian census do not give information on widow remarriages, though they do provide information on current widows & widowers by age. The mean age at widowhood for Hindus was 32.3 years (1991). It could be noted that the proportion of those getting remarried declines by age. Of those widow below the age of 15 years, nearly 90% to 100% get married while very few are remarried after the age of 40. In the year 1991, among the elderly (60+ age group) the percentage of widows was 60.7 & that of widowers was 19 (Census of India 1991).

This is probably the younger widow has greater opportunity & a longer time in which to get married.

In 1856, the Hindu Widows Remarriage Act legalised the marriage of widows of all castes.

With general social awakening & the spared of education & modern ideas, prejudices against widow remarriages are getting soften, it is often asserted that as widow remarriages become more frequent.

Inter Caste Marriage – Inter caste marriages prevailed in India as a result of a very rigid caste system. Upper caste people would not have any marriage alliance with lower caste people.

In today’s changing society there are certain families that do not give much importance of the caste system. In such cases apart from the personal character & appearance, economic & professional status are sufficient grounds to arrange the marriage.