MARRIAGE AND MORALS

Hindu dharmasastra considers that it is obligatory for every person to marry, as, according to it vivaha (marriage) is one of the sarirsamskaras (sacraments sanctifying the body) through each of which every man and woman must pass at the proper age and time, but, though marriage is thus universally prescribed for all Hindus, the institution as such is hedged with several rules and restriction which fall under two main heads, namely, endogamy and exogamy.

Endogamy: A Hindu may not marry outside his caste or his particular sub-caste which according to social custom is considered endogamous. He is confined for the choice of a wife w3ithin this group. Thus, the internal structure of the Kunbis, the great agricultural caste of the Maratha country, shows several endogamous sub-caste recruited form different classes of the population. The jhare or jungly Kunbis are the oldest immigrants and have no doubt an admixture of Gond blood. With them mayt be clased the manva Kunbis of the Nagpur district who appear to be a group recruited form the Manas, a primitive tribe, among the other sub-caste sare the Khaire, who take their name form Khair or catechu tree; the Dhanoje are those who took to the occupation of lending dham or small stock; Khedute sub-caste may be derived from Kheda a village. The biggest Kunbi sub-castes are the Tirole or Tilole, who now claim to be Rajputs. The Vandhekars are another group which also includes some Deshmukh families.

The Vanjari sub-caste certainly represents a branch of the Banjara caste of carriers, who have traken to agriculture and been promoted into the Kunbi community.

Exogamy: The caste or sub-caste forms the outer circle, within which a man must marry. Outside it are a set of further sub-divisions which prohibit the marriage of persons related through males. These are called exogamous groups or class and their name among the higher castes is gotra. The theory is that all persons belonging to the same gotra are descended from the same male ancestor, and so related. System of exogamous gotra based as it is on descent from males suffices to prevent the unions of persons nearly related on the father's side, but not those on the mother's side, which are, therefore, regulated by another set of rules. In the twice-born castes marriage is usually avoided between persons related on the woman's side, within three or some times five degrees. The marriage of the children of two sisters is prohibited in northern castes and is rare in the southern. The marriage of the children of a brother and sister, called cross-cousin marriage, which is common in southern castes is prohibited in most of the Hindustani castes. Among Marathi communities-Marathas, Kunbis, Malis, Mahars, etc-the marriage of a brother's daughter with a sister's son is common. The other form of cross-cousin marriage. Viz.. the marriage of the brother's son to the sister's daughter is practised by some Gonds and some of the less civilised tribes, among whom it is spoken of as dudh lautna(give back the milk). Among some castes of Telugu origin, and among some Desastha Brahmanas a brother has the first claim to his sister's daughter even as his own wife, an idea which would be looked on with horror by the Northern or Maratha Hindus. The marriage of two sister at the same time was once permitted in most of the lower caste and in all tribes, and was common among those castes which were specially polygamous, but the elder sister might not be married after the young, there seems to be a general rule that a man should marry a woman of his own generation.

Hypergamy: Hypergamy relates to the social rule by which a woman should be married to a man who is either her equal or her superior in rank. Such practice is still widely prevalent in northern India by which men of the higher sub-caste of a caste will take daughter in marriage from lower ones but will not give their daughters in return. Only a few cases of hypergamy are found in this district among Brahmanas, Marathas and other castes. Among the sub-castes of Kanauja Brahmanas, the Sarwaria sub-caste, which is the highest, takes daughters from Kanaujas, and the Kanaujas take them form the Jijhotias; Marathas who lay no claim to Rajput ancestry take daughter from the Kunbis in marriage for their sons, they do not due their daughter to the Kunbis.

More commonly, families of the lower sub-castes or class in the same castes consider the marriage of their daughters into a higher group a; great honour and will give large sum s of money for al bridegroom. Occasionally intermarriage between two castes takes place on heypergamous basis; thus Rajputs are said to take daughters from the highest class of ht cultivating caste of Dangis.

Polygyny: Hinduism permits polygyny. The Smrtis not only prescribe that a man who has entered grhansthasrama must not remain single and should take another wife without delay to keep up religious rites, but also ask to take another wife during the lifetime of the first one who had no son. But even then polygyny had been practised through the age only by a few people. A Kunbis would take a second wife ony if the first was childless or a bad character, or destitute of attractions. Polygyny was very rare among the Banias and it was generally the rule that a man must have obtained the consent of his first wife before taking a second one. Similarly, among the Kaikadis, the consent of the first wife must have been obtained to the taking of a second. In recent years, the spread of English education and assimilation of modern liberal ideas have made almost all communities among the Hindus monogamous, though a few isolated cases of polygyny could not be ruled out. However, the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 has now completely reformed the law relating to Hindu marriage all over India and has made monogamy compulsory among all classes of Hindus.

Widow Marriage and Divorce: The remarriage of widows was once strictly prohibited among the Brahmanas, it being reasoned that marriage was the only sacrament (samskara)for a woman and she could go through it only once. And even now though legally permissible widow-marriages are not much in vogue in 'higher' Hindu communities. Only a minority of the most advanced Brahmanas would recognise widow-remarrige, and these were once generally held to be excluded form the caste, though defaults in caste practices such as breaches of the rules against the consumption of prohibited kinds of meat, and drinking even alcoholic liquor were winked at and not visited with proper penalty. Similarly, divorce was once not recognised among Brahmanas. Among Banias the remarriage of widows was nominally prohibited, but frequently occurred, and remarried widows were relegated to the inferior social groups in each sub-caste. Divorce was also said to have been prohibited, but it was probable that women put away for adultery were allowed to take refuge in such groups instead of being finally expelled. Many a lower caste in the district allowed both widow-remarriage and divorce. The Kunbis permitted the remarriage of widows, with the exception of Deshmukh families of the Sirole sub-caste who had forbidden it; on the death of her husband the woman returned to her father's house and he used to arrange her second marriage, which was called coli-patal or giving her new clothes. The ceremony of widow-marriage was largely governed by the idea of escaping or placating the wrath of the first husband's ghost. A bachelor who wished to marry a widow had first to go through a mock ceremony of marriage with an arka or swallow-wort plant. Divorce was permitted on sufficient grounds at the instance of either party, it being effected before the caste committee or pancayat.

Dowry: In Hindu religious books are enumerated eight forms of marriage, i.e., methods of consecrating a marriage-union of which, in modern times only two are in vogue, viz.., the brahma and the asura. Conforming with the brahma form of marriage generally among the higher castes, a hunda (dowry-property which a woman brings to her husband) is paid by the bride's parents usually take dej (bride-price) thereby conforming with the asura form. The monetary aspect in the settlement of a marriage may take various forms, e.g., among the Marathas, in a salankrta, kanyadan, the bride's father, besides the ornaments he gives to his daughter, spends on may items of expenses on both the sides; in kanyadana, the expenses of the bride's father are much restricted; in varapaksa-vadhupaksa, the parties bear their own expenses, stand each other's manpan and the groom's party gives a rasbhog (feast) to all the villagers; in the hunda form the girl's father pays bridegroom-price to the boy's father, while in the dej form, as the proposal of the marriage comes from the boy's father, he has to pay a dej (bride-price) to the girl's father.

It may be mentioned here that the dowry demanded from the brides's. father is under the guise of vara-daksina-money the donee receives from the donor to fulfil the purpose of dan(gift). In communities where for some reason other the supply of marriageable boys falls much short of the demand, dowry forms the important consideration in a marriage settlement. Education market, and scarcity of suitable grooms enforces spinsterhood on a large number of eligible girls whose parents are unable to pay the stipulated dowry. Examples to the contrary are also found; boys remain unmarried in communities where because of the scarcity of marriageable girls, besides presents to the girl in the shape of ornaments and clothes large sums in the shape of purchase-money are demanded by her father.

Enactments: Social usage in relation to Hindu marriage has been considerable affected by various legal enactments passed, perhaps right from 1833 when the regulation prohibiting sati was declared. (1) A common form of civil marriage for all communities in India was provided by the Special Marriage Act III of 1872, which made it possible for an Indian of whatever caste or creed to enter into a valid marriage with a person belonging to any caste or creed, provided the parties registered the contract of marriage declaring inter alia that they did not belong to any religion. This Act was amended by Act XXX of 1923; making it possible for Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains (but not for Christians, Jews, Mahavardans and Parsees) to declare their religion and yet get their marriage registered. (2) the Child Marriage Restraint Act XIX of 1929, as amended by Act 19 of 1946 prohibited marriages of boys under 18 years of age and girls under 14 years of age (3) The Hindu Marriage between parties (a) belonging to the same gotra or (b) belonging to different sub-divisions of the same caste; and now (4) The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 which abrogates and modifies all the past laws. It has made Hindu marriage now strictly adult and monogamous; has done away with the caste and gotra restrictions which limited the field of marriage; and has set down definte conditions under which a degree of nullity and further of dissolution of marriage could be obtained.

As marriage from the Hindu point of view created an indis-soluble tie between the husband and the wife, divorce was not known to the general Hindu law. Neither party to a marriage could, therefore, divorce the other unless divorce was allowed by custom. The Indian Divorce Act, 1869 provided inter alia for dissolution of marriage, but it applied only to ceases where;the petitioner or respondent professed the Christian religion" (S.2 of the Act). However, according to the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, reliefs by way of judicial separation, declaration of nullity of marriage and divorce are recognized (Ss. 10 to 13).

Naming: The maiden name of the bride is changed and she is given a new name by which she is known afterwards in her husband's family. Betel packets and sugar are distributed to the party assembled and money to Brahmans. A ritualistic closure to the marriage ceremony is put with the rite whereby the deities that had been invited before the ceremony began are taken leave of and the marriage booth is dismantled. Socially, exchange of feasts ends the ceremony.