The Gazetteers Department

Marriage is perhaps the most significant and most respected of sacraments among Hindus. The so-called upper classes or dvijas according to old nomenclature perform it with Vedic mantras and the lower classes with Puranic mantras and some accepted rituals. But in essentials they do not differ much.

According to orthodox practice, marriages are arranged within the same caste and sub-caste. Insistence on the latter has, however, now disappeared to a great extent and even inter-caste marriages are not as rare as they used to be. Such marriages are legally valid and no longer evoke any particular hostility. Even in exogamous marriages as in endogamous, only sagotra, sapinda and sapravara alliances were prohibited until recently even by law and even among Brahmans who laid much stress on these prohibitions. Now sagotra marriages are not rare and are valid in law. Family or kula considerations are of course generally present in fixing marriages. It is still the practice for parents to be on the look-out for a suitable match for their sons and daughters, though the parties concerned have no opportunity of meeting each other and taking final decision in the matter. The prohibited degrees of blood relatives for marriage beyond the agnates vary according to the custom of the community concerned. So far as cross-cousin marital alliances are concerned, a brother's daughter to a sister's son is not only not prohibited but preferred among most Hindu communities including Brahmins, except Chitpavan or Konkanastha Brahmans. Marriage with a wife's sister is allowed and a brother may marry his brother's wife's sister, i.e., two sisters can become sisters-in-law. Polygamy was not once prohibited by law.

Child-marriages are prohibited by law, First, the Sarda Act disallowed marriages of girls below 14 and later legislation prohibited marriages of boys below 18. Apart from the religious ceremonies, registration has now been made compulsory in urban areas, like registration of births and deaths. Yet marriages by mutual choice of the bride and the bridegroom have not much come into vogue, though the number of love marriage is definitely increasing.

Arranged marriages naturally involve agreements and settlements. In such marriages the form known as Brahma is conformed to in most respects. Kanyadana is an important aspect of it. It can be plain or salankrta, i.e., the bride is decorated with valuables and given over. In most settlements each party bears its own expenses or common expenses are shared and gifts are exchanged as previously drawn up. Dowry or hunda is given by a girl's rather to the boy's father and, when this is a reasonable present to the son-in-law, it is not found irksome; but when these limits are violated, it becomes a social evil and it has assumed that form in some communities as among the Leva Patidars of Gujarat but not of Khandesh. In certain other communities, it is the bridegroom's father who has to pay a price for a bride. Such is the general framework of marriage agreements which precede the ceremonies which are a necessary formality.

Marriage Programme.

The full programme of a wedding consists of a magni. or proposal from the bridegroom's side or an offer from the bride's side. If the horoscopes of the boy and the girl agree and other terms are agreed upon after consulting an astrologer who is usually a Brahman, an auspicious day and precise timing arc fixed. Then follows what is called sakharpuda when present of a sadi and some ornament is made to the bride. A similar ceremony to make a present to the bridegroom follows. It is called a tilak ceremony. The horoscopes are duly worshipped by priests on either side. Ceremonial invitations are given to gods and goddesses in temples. Ghana is held on the morning of the wedding day as described in the case of an upanayana. A party of suvasinis from the boy's house go to the girl's house taking with them turmeric paste and articles of dress. This is sometimes done to the accompaniment of music and drum beating. The girl is given an oil and turmeric smearing and is bathed. A new sadi and bodice are given to her. The party then returns to the boy's house with the remaining turmeric paste and the bridegroom is similarly smeared and bathed. A new yellow dress is given to him also.

After this religiously non-essential programme is over, the religious programme begins, with mandapa-pratistha and devaka-pratistha at both camps. Ganesa pujan, punyahavacana, nandi-sraddha and grahamakha or a sacrifice to propitiate the astral bodies form part of this programme as in the case of upanayana. A central spot in the marriage pandal is cleansed with cowdung wash and rangoli is traced on it. Three pats (low wooden stools), are arranged close to one another and covered with woollen carpets. The bride or the bridegroom, as the case may be, and parents dressed in rich sacred clothes seat themselves on the pats with their faces eastwards. They go through a prayascitta for whatever sins of commission or omission might have been committed by them and are thus purified for the great event. The father of the boy or the girl then announces "I am going to marry my son/ daughter named so and so to continue the performance of righteous deeds and to propagate my line to him or her fit to perform similar deeds". Ganesa worship, etc., then follow. Priests say prayers for the safe and secure performance of the ceremony to various deities by recitation of vedic mantras. Gadagner or Kelvan. is a pre-marriage feast held at both the bride's and the bridegroom's place. Relatives also throw such parties in their honour.

Vagdana.

Vagdana or formal declaration of the marital alliance is made at the girl's house in the presence of a number of relatives and friends. The boy's father accompanied by intimate friends and relations goes to the girl's house to the accompaniment of drum beating and music. After a proper welcome they are seated. Opposite to the boy's father sits the girl's father and the girl dressed in rich clothes and decorated with ornaments is brought in the pandal and seated next to his father. The boy's father gives into her hand hotel leaves and a cocoanut and thrice tells her father that he would accept her for a wife to his son and the girl's father also repeats thrice the word "Please accept". Those present are given betel leaves and areca-nuts, attar-gulab and the ceremony is over.

Simantpujana.

Simantapujana was originally the reception given to the bride- groom's party when they arrived at outskirts of the village or town of the bride's party. Now it is symbolically performed in the marriage booth at the bride's house." It is nothing more than a formal welcome. In modern forms, it is dropped because it is unessential. Before the appointed auspicious hour of wedlock, the bridegroom has to arrive at the bride's place. This he does in a procession about an hour before the fixed time and goes through what is known as madhuparka. The bridegroom is seated on a wooden stool called cauranga. The bride's mother and father sit before him. The mother pours water on his feet and the father washes them and dries them with a napkin. The girl's father takes a ladle full of curds, milk, honey, butter and sugar and empties the mixture on the right palm of the groom. He swallows it and is then presented with a new pair of dhotis, ornaments and some coins of gold or silver. While this goes on the bride is clad in a yellow sadi known as astaputri or vadhuvastra-kancoli (bride's special dress) and is seated before the Gauri-hara, i.e., a representation of Siva and Parvati. A small basket of bamboo chicks filled with rice is given in her hand and she is asked to throw the grains one by one on the Gauai-hara, praying all the time that her would-be husband be healthy and long-lived and she be a good wife into him.

When the auspicious moment is only a few minutes off, the groom is made to stand on a pal in the marriage hall with his face to the east. A piece of cloth, usually a Kashmere shawl is held between him and the bride who stands on a sandal paste stone in front of the groom. It is customary for her maternal uncle to lead her there to the spot. The bridegroom's sister stands behind him and the bride's sister stands behind her. If there are no sisters, cousins play that role, each with a lighted lamp and a cocoanut. The bride is given a garland of flowers to hold in her hand and the groom a similar garland or the Mangalasutra with gold and black glass beads. The Brahman priests and others begin to chant mangalastkas, i.e., auspicious compositions and at the close of every one of them auspicious red rice grains are thrown at the bride and the groom. When the auspicious moment comes, the priests raise their voices and at the exact second stop chanting, the curtain is withdrawn and the bride and the groom garland each other. If it is the mangalasutra, the bridegroom fastens it round the bride's neck. Pansupari, attar-gulab, cocoa-nuts and sweets are distributed to guests. Brahmans are given dakshina and thus the main event is over.

Kanyadana.

The ceremony of kanyadana then follows. This is considered a meritorious act as it makes for the perpetuation of the race. Giving over the bride and her being accepted, dana and prati-graha are actions accompanied by solemn assurances of mutual loyalty. This done, the family priests on either side perform what is called suvarnabhiseka, a benedictory sprinkling of gold-washed water on the heads of the newly married couple. This is followed by a vivaha-homa to be performed by the couple and then comes the saptapadi rite. In front of the sacrificial fire, the couple sits and the groom makes three oblations of rice into the lire. He then leads the bride to the row of rice heaps at the north of the sacrificial fire. As he walks, the bride pulls her right toe on the rice heaps one by one and at each step the priest chants a mantra. The bride and the bridegroom go round the fire and take their seats again on the pats in front of it. The fire is fed with more oblations of ghee and rice. The couple is taken out to have a darsana of the pole-star, Dhruvatara. This done the ceremony is over from the religious point of view in the case of dvijas. For with the rites of panigrahana, the rounds by the sacrificial fire and the saptapadi, the Hindu marriage is considered to be final and irrevocable. The varat and vadhupravesa, i.e.. a bridal procession, ceremonial entering in her new home on the part of bride and her getting a new name are part of the festivity in connection with the ceremony. Devakothapana and manda-podvasana are the concluding religious rites.

The Sacraments Marriage.

Reformed ceremony.

In marriages not performed according to Vedic rites, most of the elements of the Brahma marriage are, nevertheless, honoured. In both cases the former four-day duration has been dropped and even entirely old-fashioned marriages are now-a-days over in a day with all items abbreviated. A modified form of the traditional marriage ceremony and the accompanying essential rituals has been recommended by the Dharmanirnaya Mandal and is widely followed in the Maharashtra; the following 21 items comprise that form: —

(1) Upakrama.—Procedure preparatory to making the samkalpa on the part of the bridegroom.

(2) Samkalpa.—The solemn declaration that he intends to enter the householder's state.

(3) Punyahavacanam.—This literally means, saying three times 'May this be an auspicious day' on the part of the assembled when requested by the bridegroom that they do declare that to be an auspicious day.

(4) Kanyadatuh Samkalpadikam.—A solemn declaration on the part of the gentleman who gives away the bride that he intends performing the marriage ceremony of the bride with a view to her acquisition of dharma (religious merit), artha (worldly prosperity) and kama (love) after obtaining the position of a house holder's wife.

(5) Vadhuvarasatkarah.—Honouring of the bride and the bride groom, in the case of the bride by the bridegroom's party and in the other case by the bride's party.

(6) Kanyadana.—The giving away of the bride or offering the hand of the bride in marriage to the bridegroom. (At this stage a variant is introduced to suit modern times, where occasionally the boy and the girl themselves choose each other as partners in life and wish to marry each other. Instead of the parent saying to the bridegroom "I offer, etc." as in the orthodox form of marriage, the bride offers herself to the bridegroom reciting the appropriate formula.) The bridgegroom then accepts.

(7) Niyamabandha.—The binding down of the bridegroom to certain vows in respect of the bride.

(8) Aksataropanam.—The placing of unbroken grains or rice on each other's head by the bride and the bridegroom.

(9) Mangalsutrabandhanam.—Tying of the sacred thread of beads round the neck of the bride by the bridegroom and also garlanding each other.

(10) Panigraha.—The taking of the bride's hand by the bride-groom.

(11) Homapurvangam.—The introductory offering of oblations to several gods such as the god of fire, the god of creation, the god Skanda, etc.

(12) Pradhanahoma.—The principal offering of oblations.

(13) Lajahoma, Parinaynam, Asmaroha.—The offering of oblations consisting of rice flakes; going round the consecrated lire; and making the bride stand on a slab of stone.

(14) Saptapadi.—The taking of the seven steps together. The technique of this ritual is somewhat elaborate. At each step the bridegroom recites a formula which is really a mild command and request to the bride.

(15) Homoitarangam.—The conclusion of the marriage sacrifice.

(16) Samsthajapa.—The offering of prayer to god Agni by the husband and the wife. At the end of the prayer both ask for a blessing from the same god.

(17) Abhisekah.—The sprinkling of consecrated water over the heads of the bride and the bridegroom by the priest, accompanied by the giving of blessings.

(18) Karmasamapti.—The conclusion of the ceremony. Here the father of the bride declares that the ceremony is concluded and prays that God be pleased by this act of performing the sacrament of the daughter's marriage.

(19) Saptasidhruvopasthanam.—Praying to the seven sages with Arundhati, and Dhruva (the Pole Star).

(20) Asirvadah.—Here the father of the girl gives her advise as to how to lead the married life and the assembled guests bless the couple.

(21) Grhapravesa.—Entering the (husband's) home. This is accompanied by mantras of request from the bridegroom and bride and of joint resolve to lead a happy married life.

Civil Marriages.

A common form of civil marriage for all communities in India was provided by the Special Marriage Act III of 1872. Under this Act, parties wishing to get their marriages registered had to declare that they did not profess any of the following religions, viz., Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muhammedan, Parsi, Buddhist, Sikh or Jain. This Act was amended by Act XXX of 1923, making it possible for Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains (but not for Christians, Jews, Muhammedans and Parsis) to declare their religion and yet get their marriages registered. Marriages registered under this Act are legal although they may be against the religious customs of the caste or community of any one of the couple. Under the procedure at present prescribed, the parties wishing to get married give a notice to the Registrar of Marriages about their intention to marry within three months from the date of notice and specify each one's condition, rank or profession, age. dwelling place and length of residence therein. After the expiry of fifteen days, if no valid objection is forthcoming, the Registrar grants a marriage certificate after the couple have signed a declaration form, in which each has to affirm that he (or she) is at the time either unmarried or widower (or widow); does not profess any religion or docs profess a particular religion; has completed the age of twenty-one years (if not, the guardian has to attest his consent to the marriage); is not related to the other in any prohibitive degree of consanguinity or affinity; and, in the case of a minor, the consent of father or guardian has been given to the marriage and not been revoked. Two witnesses have to attest their signatures to the declaration.

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