Marriage a sacred institution...

 Table of contents-

   -what is it?

   - why marriage?

   - Functions of marriage

   - types of marriage in our ancient texts

   -types of marriage happens in society

   - neo concept of marriage (hybrid       marriage)

   - marriage vs live in relationship

   - NHFS report

   - is marriage a necessary one?

   - conclusion

     Marriage is a sacred institution in Hinduism and we often considered it as a life long bond . Once a man marries to a woman then they becomes couples and there is no place for separation i.e divorce ( it is an adopted concept ). The purpose of marriage is to maintain a social harmony and order. Procreation is the law of nature and nature does it through kama (intercourse) and this happens when a man attracts towards a woman or vice versa. So kama is a sacred thing but people in the traditional society took it with a unusual manner and made it a taboo . So in society the concept of sex became a profane and ultimately the purpose of kama became a pollution in society . So to prevent that pollution idea the then leaders and preachers of that traditional society were introduced a medium i.e marriage and that's why it can be said that marriage became a legal permission to do the procreation.

   There are three philosophical functions of marriage as

  1. Dharma- duty performed by the husband and wife ex. Homa, Shraddha etc.

 2. Praja- progeny - the pro creation purpose 

  3. Rati- to satisfies the bodily desires i.e sexual gratification.

   In our religion we considered Rati (kama) as one the purushartha . Praja is a needed one for th societal functions and the couples perform the dharma and that's why marriage is regarded as a sacred institution.

According to Mandelbaum a  sociologist,

                   " A marriage mobiliges the       family, social resources,and through marriage members renew kin ties by established new bonds of kinship."

 So for the above described purposes,a marriage is also considered as an indissoluble among the Hindus .

 An interesting fact about the marriage in general and hindu in particular is they primarily followed the caste endogamy and gotra exogamy . Even the shia muslims doesn't  like marry with the Sunni also .The reason behind this is the concept of purity and pollution. The upper class always prefer to marry within their class to prevent the VARNA SANKARA ( Blood amalgamation) but sometimes it is seen that the upper class man marries a lower class woman with intentionally or unintentionally and that is called the Pratiloma marriage and the opposite is called Anuloma marriage. 

  Apart from the aforesaid information our scripture like Manu Smriti provides mainly 8 types of marriage as BRAMHA, DAIVA,ARSA, PRAJAPATYA, ASURA,GANDHARVA,RAKHYASA,PAISACHA.(details of this will be discussed in other article). When a society gets modern the traditional system also modernize. The above mentioned eight types are ancient types ,then the anuloma-pratiloma types, and then the marriage like love, arrange, and love- arrange (hybrid) types. After decriminalisation of  section377  now the gay marriage/ lesbian marriage are also happens in their respective community.

  These all under comes under the relationship category. So now the neo relational concept which is very popular among the youth i.e live in relationship. Though it is the right for every individual to choose their partner and their relationship but the concept of live in relationship couldn't fit in our society atleast now and also it opposes the Hindu philosophy of marriage. It is seen that now a days there is no relational harmony between the couples and now the function of marriage be like RATI-PRAJA-DHARMA and marriage still is a sacred institution only by its name but not in function.

 According to National Health And Family Survey (NHFS)it is observed that the trend of marriage now changed to some extent. Three important findings are 

1. The boys want a beautiful faced wife (i.e prime focus is on beauty)

2. The girls want a working husband mainly govt.job holder 

3. An emergent notion of to being alone i.e they want no partner and are happy with their life ( don't want to loose their freedom of life.)

  So the question that ,is marriage a necessary one ? The fact is that marriage gives some responsibilities in one hand and takes out the freedom from other hand.  It is said there is a woman behind every successful man and if we consider it as a true line then why the rate of divorce is increasing rapidly. The reason is  different ideology and mindset . Every partner wants to maintain their superiority over another. The ongoing generation of couples are very much different from our parents . Yes change is necessary but not this type of change and you also get it. 

 So it is upto one person who choose how to live , with a partner or like a wonderer.

  ( Completely personal views )

Be happy with your life

Be healthy

Jay Mahakal

Keep sharing..