HISTORY OF HINDU MATRIMONY

Hindu Matrimony customs in ancient India had a different scenario all together what we see now. Read how it came to be what it is….

In ancient India, especially in Hindu matrimony, for political as well as for social reasons, there are certain references of polyandry and polygamy, they are considered as a criminal offence today. Falling in love before marriage was considered to be an offense. However, there are several references of princes and princesses to have loving relationships between them. While in medieval age, the kings arranged Swayamwaras for their daughters where woman chooses her groom while the men displays their abilities by their presentations.

There are references in ancient Indian epics like Mahabharat that the Aryans were monogamous. While in medieval India, marriage is made compulsory for the girls except to those who opted for severity. The girls of the Brahmin families were married at the early age of eight to ten years from the sixth century till the modern times. According to the Manasollasa, the king should marry a Khastriya girl of the noble family.

However, there were exceptions in the prehistoric era where woman could have their ways in ruling kingdom and acted as spirituals guides for their children and helping their husbands in the political fronts.

Hindu Matrimony – 4th to 6th Century BC (Vedic Ages)

In fourth century in Indian culture, the marriages took place at a very young age. Early societies for their political and social reasons had to have a secure means for the perpetuations spices and an institution to handle the granting property rights and marriage handled these rights. In fact the arranged marriage is considered as a foundation of the Indian marriage system which is still survived in modernization and industrialization in India. During that period, the boy’s parents searched for a matching alliance at a preadolescent age and then approached the girl’s family with the proposition. There is a middleman appointed to propose the family with the proper match for the alliance. He used to negotiate and would suggest an auspicious date and time for the marriage to take place after matching the bride’s and the groom’s birth-charts.

Vedic Period Weddings

Marriages in the Vedic period are the oldest and the first form in the History of the Indian matrimony. The marriages in the Vedic civilizations had written records in Vedic text.

The Vedic civilization is found near the Saraswati River in the states like Punjab and Haryana. The Vedic civilizations have many dates which start from 5th millennium BC. And it is continued till the 6th century BC. The Vedic is identical with the Aryans and the Hinduisms.

Indian Royal Household Weddings

India is a land which has a large variety of rich culture heritage. Indian royal household wedding is always been showy, spendthrift with abundant pomp and show. India is gifted by several palaces and exotic resorts specially designed for grand wedding celebrations.

Indian Society Weddings

In Indian household, the wedding has a varied rituals, happiness and jollity that always have at the time of festivals. Every rituals and customs has some characteristics in their own in the country.

Child Marriage

The child marriage was not prevalent in ancient India; it came into existence in the medieval period during the political anarchy. The birth of a girl was looked up as an ill omen and the system of killing girl fetus grew which is still in exists in some parts of the country. It is seen that a marriage is fixed of a women child while she was in the cradle also become prevalent due to fear of insecurity among the parents. A woman without a lawful man relation in her life was a social disaster and so the system of Sati (a woman preferred to burn herself in the funeral pyre of her husband) becomes prominent.

However thanks to modernization and globalization and changing status of woman in India, the custom sati system is banned. There are some revolutionary steps are taken against various malpractices which still exist in the system of marriage.

In the past the selection of the couple was based on the shastric ideas, rules and regulations. The parents of the girl should not only see the boy’s body but also examine his conduct, family means, education and the reputation. They should choose the boy whose age should be more than the age of the girl. The boy should be of sound mind and body and he and his family is free from any hereditary diseases.

In some cases, it was common for the groom to live with his bride’s family; however the married couple lives in a separate place. The groom has to look after and provide facilities to the bride’s family and has to be subservient to his mother in-law. There was not a system of honeymoon but the couples are being provided with ample of alone time.

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