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THE PEOPLE
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CUSTOMS
The majority of Hindu customs and traditions consist of ritualistic practices related to various religious observances known as samskaras or sacraments. They are, in theory, purifying rites, conducted under the direction of Brahman priesthood, according to orthodox practice. Regarding the exact number of these samskaras, the writers of Smrtis are not agreed. According to some of these law-givers, 16 of these sacraments are compulsory and 24 more optional. Nitya and Naimittika are the Sanskrit words used to convey this meaning. Of late, even the 16 have been reduced to about half a dozen in most of the Hindu communities. These rituals are performed at birth, thread-girding, marriage, pregnancy and death. Thread-girding is peculiar only to' the twice-born i.e. the dwijas,
now consisting of all Brahman sub-divisions, some Maratha families and Vaishyas. Garbhddhdna, signalising the child-bearing capacity of the girl-wife, which used to be once performed separately and with much fan-fare and tom-tom as girls were then married at an early age, has now become extinct and forms part of the marriage rite.
Marriage
The most important and far-reaching in its effects on every individual Hindu, man or woman, is the marital rite. Till lately, this was observed most ceremoniously, but under the stress of modern thought, economic necessity and reformist religious teaching even this rite has been reduced to the minimum by the Dharma Shastra Nirnaya Mandal. Even well-to-do and conservatively minded Hindus now resort to' what has come to be designated as the Vedic marital ritual. As a matter of fact even what prevailed before was also Vedic as distinguished from the registered marriage system under which the parties to the marriage could belong to different religions and still join in wedlock as man and wife. The four-day wedding ceremonies, interspersed with a number of dinner parties thrown by the people of both the bride and bride-groom have become a matter of the past and the ritual has been made brief, with just one reception to friends and relatives, but the religious requirements like Saptapadi, Kanyadna, Vivdha-homa being preserved in their pristine glory in keeping with the injunctions of the shastras and smrtis. The Brahmans have led the way in bringing this reform in vogue. Other Hindu communities have willingly followed them.
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