Forms of marriage

types of hindu marriage

1. Forms of Marriage

2. Introduction Marriage, whether considered as a sacrament or a contract, gives rise to a status. It confers a status of husband and wife on parties to the marriage, and a status of legitimacy on the children of the marriage.  For a valid marriage, in most systems of law, two conditions are necessary :   P arties must have capacity to marry,  T hey must undergo the necessary ceremonies and rites of marriage.  In some ancient communities, both the requirements were nomin Any two persons, a man and a woman, could live together as husband and wife if they intended to do so . Some insist on the performance of some public ceremonies, while in others performance of private ceremonies is enough. 

3. Manu classified marriages as follows : Regular/Approved Forms / Civilised Form of Marriage: Brahma Daiva Arsha Prajapatya Irregular/Unapproved Forms / Uncivilised Form of Marriage: Asura Gandharva Rakshasa Paisachika

4. Regular/Approved Forms / Civilised Form of Marriage 1) Brahma: A Brahma marriage is where a boy is able to get married once he has completed his student hood, or Brahmacharya. Brahma marriage has the most supreme position of the eight types of Hindu matrimony. When the parents of the boy seek for a female, they would consider her family background, but the girl’s father would make sure that the boy that wishes to wed his daughter had the knowledge of Vedas. It is these things that make the basis for Brahma marriage, not a system of dowry. 2) Daiva: The type of marriage that is considered inferior because it is degrading to womanhood is Daiva marriage. This is where the woman’s family will wait for a specific time to get her wed. If she doesn’t get a suitable groom, then she would be married off to places where sacrifices are conducted.

5. Conti... 3) Arsha: In this form, bride’s father accepts one or two pairs of cows from bridegroom in exchange of bride. In the Arsha Form, the nominal character of the sale was clear; for the father’s taking from the bridegroom a cow and a bull or two pairs was only in fulfillment of the sacred law, there being no intention to sell the child; and the bull and the cow were received back with the bride by the bridegroom. 4) Prajapatya: In this form, the father addresses the bridal couple ‘May both of you perform your duties together’and gives in gift to the bridegroom not invitee, but a suitor. Prajapatya is ancient form of Hindu Marriage and is similar to the Brahma Form of Marriage.

6. Irregular/Unapproved / Uncivilised Form of Marriage 1) Asura: In this form, Bridegroom receives bride by paying money. According to Manu, when the bridegroom receives a maiden, after having given as much wealth as he can afford, to the Kinsmen and to the bridge herself, according to his own will, that is called the Asura rite. According to Asvalayana, a wedding is called Asura where a man marries her after gladdening her father by money and by gifts. This form of marriage is almost a marriage by sale because it amounts to a sale of daughter by the father. 2) Gandharva: It is a love marriage i.e, voluntary union of maiden and her lover. According to Asvalayan, where a man marries her after a mutual agreement has been made between the lover and the damsel, it is called the Gandharva. Baudhayana says that the Gandharava is lawful for Vaisyas and Sudras.

7. Conti... 3) Rakshasa: It is a forcible marriage against the will. According to Manu, the forcible abduction of a maiden from her home, while she cries out and weeps, after her kinsmen have been slain or wounded and their houses broken open, is called the Rakshasa rite. Rakshasa marriage was forcible capture and allowed only to Kshatriyas or military classes. The Rakshasa form of marriage in which the maiden is seized from her house by force is still practiced among certain classes of Gonds of Berar and Betual of Madhya Pradesh and among the rude hill tribes. 4) Paisachika: In this form, a man seduces a girl in sleeping or unconscious state. According to Baudhyana, ‘If one has intercourse with a maiden who is sleeping intoxicated or out of her senses (with fear or passion) and weds her a f terwards, that is the rite of Paishacha.

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