Social Institutions: Forms, Types and Rules of Marriage in India

Marriage is a socially approved relationship between man and woman that binds each other into a permanent, official relation of husband and wife. It is an important social institution that satisfies physical, social, psychological, cultural and economic needs of men and women. According to the ancient scripture marriage is regarded as a socio-religious duty constituted to attain three important aims of life the dharma (duty), rati (sensual pleasure) and praja (progeny).

Key elements of marriage

1. Like family, marriage is also an important universal social institution which is found in almost all societies.
2. It is socially sanctioned relation where man and woman lives together, have sexual relation and produce children.
3. It is a permanent and enduring bond between husband and wife which is design to fulfil each other needs.
4. This relation is valid only when it has social approval without social approval it is illegitimate.
5. It is a relation between two individuals of opposite sex is based on customs, law, mutual rights and obligations.
6. Marriage is an essential element to establish a family which further helps to protect and up bring the children. Without marriage family is incomplete.
7. It is an essential relation between men and women to continue the human race through procreation.
8. It is associated to the religious ceremony which provides it social identity and legitimacy.
9. It regulates the sexual desire of men and women according to prescribed customs and laws.
10. It is identified as a new phase of life for the married couple.
11. It is the only a social institution where the sexual gratification is ensured along with social and cultural mechanism for the continuation of the family.
12. The offspring of the family born of marriage is only considered the legitimate which is very important in matter of inheritance and succession.

Marriage as described in religions

• Hinduism: Hindu regards marriage as a socio-religious duty of an individual.
• Islam: As per Islam marriage is an obligatione. “Sunnah” which must be fulfils by every Muslim.
• Christianity: In Christianity marriage is held crucial to life. It lays weight age on the establishment of a mutual relationship between husband and wife and on their duty to each other.

Forms of Marriage

Various forms of marriages are based on number of wives or husbands a person has. Two broad categories are monogamy and polygamy . The below graphic shows this broad classification:

Polygyny

In Polygyny one man marries more than one woman at a given time. It is most popular form of polygamy and is common in Muslims now-a-days but it used to be common in Hindus also once upon a time. Polygyny has two forms viz. Sororal Polygyny and non-sororal Polygyny .

Polyandry

In this form of marriage, one woman married more than one man. It is not very common and is further classified into Fraternal Polyandry and non fraternal polyandry . The practice of polyandry is believed to stem from the tale of Mahabharata. It was common in ancient Indian tribes such as Hunas also. Fraternal polyandry is still common in some tribes / villages of northern India and is practiced due to scarcity of women.

Monogamy

This type of marriage is most widely followed where one man marries one woman at a time. It is considered as an ideal and rational type of marriage followed in all civilized societies. This type of marriage is normally a permanent relationship continued till the death. Monogamy is further classified in two types – Serial monogamy and Straight monogamy.

Serial monogamy

In this type a man can marry again only after the death of his first wife or after a divorce but he is not permitted to marry more than one wife and remains monogamous throughout his life.

Straight monogamy

In this case remarriage is not allowed for either of the couple even one of them is death or has divorced.

Monogamy is considered as an ideal or rational form of marriage because of its following advantages:

• It ensures commitment to each other at all level of life.
• It provides physical and mental satisfaction to each other.
• There is better understanding between the couple that minimises quarrels in the family.
• Gender equality is followed in this marriage and equal status is provided to the family members.
• The couple has stable sex life where they procreate children and up bring together.
• Committed life to each other facilitates their children to easily inherit property from their parents.

The only disadvantage in monogamy is that it leads to boredom after several years which may result into divorce or either of the couple has an extra marital affair.

Cenogamy / Group Marriage

In Cenogamy or group marriage, a group of men marry a group of women at a time. In this type the husbands are common husbands and wives are common wives and the children are also regarded as the common as a part of that group. Group marriages are witnessed among some tribes of New Guinea and Africa.

Rules of Marriage

In India there is no absolute freedom for man/woman to select their life partners. There are certain rules created by the society regarding partner section.

Rule based on prohibition

Endogamy and Exogamy are the two main rules that condition the marital choice. They are considered as prohibitive rules because it restricts man and women to select their mates. It allows the mate selection only in the given framework.

Endogamy

• It is a rule of marriage in which the life-partners are to be selected within the group which may be in same caste, race, tribe, class, village or religion.
• There are further types of endogamy such as caste-endogamy, sub-caste endogamy, race endogamy and tribal endogamy.

Exogamy

• It is opposite of Endogamy where an individual marries outside his own group such as gotra, pravara, pinda or village.
  • Gotra Exogamy: The Hindu practice of one marrying outside one’s own gotra.
  • PravaraExogamy: Those who belong to the same pravara cannot marry among themselves.
  • Village Exogamy: Many Indian tribes like Naga, Garo, and Munda etc. have the practice of marrying outside their village.
  • Pinda Exogamy: Those who belong to the same pinda or sapinda (common parentage) cannot marry within themselves.

  Marriages based on one’s status

  The partner selection here is carried out based on the status of each other which is described in two types.

  Isogamy

  • The marriage takes place between the individuals of two equal social status families.

  Anisogamy

  It is opposite to Isogamy as the marriage alliance is done between two individuals belonging to different social status families. It is further described in two forms – Hypergamy and Hypogamy.

  1. Hypergamy (Anuloma): In this type of marriage a woman marries with a man of higher Varna or superior caste or family. Traditionally in Indian society hypergamy is known as Anuloma, it was practiced among the nobles in the past.
  2. Hypogamy (Pratiloma): It is just opposite to Hypergamy or Anuloma as here a woman marries to a man from a lower Varna, caste or family status. This type of marriage is not permitted in Indian society.

  Marriages based on rule of preferences or priority

  When the life partners are selected among the kins is called as preferential or priority marriage. Preferential marriage is carried out four types.

  Cross-cousin marriage

  • Cross-cousin marriage is said when a person is married to its paternal uncle’s daughter/son or with the paternal aunt’s son/daughter.
  • Such marriages are held to avoid high dowry payment and to strengthen cross-cousin relation. It is mainly practiced in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Odisha.

  Parallel Cousin marriage

  • Here the marriage takes place between the children of either two sisters or two brothers. This is mainly practiced among the Muslims which aim to strengthen the bond between two sisters and two brothers.

  Levirate marriage

  • In this type of marriage the woman marries her husband’s brother after his death.
  • Such marriages are practiced by the tribes like Munda, Gond, Santal, Toda and the Oran. It is locally called as ‘Devar Vivaha’.

  Sororate

  • In this type of marriage the man marries his wife’s sister after her death or some cases even if she is alive.
  • Such marriages are practiced in some tribes like the Kharia and the Gond. It is locally called as ‘Sali Vivah’.

  Function of Marriage

  Regulates Sexual relation

  • Marriage regulates the sexual behaviour of man and woman and helps them to reduce sexual competition.
  • It is the medium under which man and woman have intercourse in socially approved manner.

  Continuation of progeny

  • The progeny of human being is continued due to marriage as it is a legitimate way to produce children.

  Upbringing and protection of offspring

  • Marriage brings man and woman together to nurture, protect and ensure that their offspring survives.
  • It provides family as a social institution to its children where they gets physical, psychological and social training to prepare them to live in and for the society.
  • This provides knowledge children about their gender roles and other social and cultural norms.

  Provides Economic security and fulfils needs

  • Marriage creates a discipline and provides framework to humans under which they provide the basic needs of their partners eg. Food, shelter, clothing and safety.
  • In Indian society marriage provides economic security to women as men are the bread earner and women depends on the earnings of the man.
  • Marriage makes man realise to whom they are economically and socially responsible.

  Permanent relation and Emotional support

  • Marriage is the only social institution which provides a constant companionship to human in the form of a life-partner as husband and wife.
  • It generates permanent companionship between the man and woman to which they share their joy, sorrow and emotions.

  Inheritance and Rights to property

  • Marriage legitimizes the birthrights of children and provides easy succession of inherited property.