Marriage in hinduism
In India , family and marriage law are governed by religious affiliation. The legal framework for Hindu marriage is set out in the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955. In some respects explicit reference is made to Hindu traditions and rituals ( Saptapadi ). In a number of aspects, today's laws contain a clear departure from traditional values of classical Hindu law.
Classic legal texts
Marriage is defined in the classical legal texts of Hinduism ( Dharmashastras ) as a holy sacrament ( samskara ). The bond between husband and wife is understood as the law of nature and both are considered as one person before the law. The formal handing over of the bride by the father ( Sanskrit , Kanyadan , literally: " maiden gift ") and the seven times surrounding the holy fire by the groom and bride ( saptapadi ) are essential for Hindu marriages.
Eight forms of marriage are described in the Manusmriti (between 200 BC and 200 AD), four of which correspond to the Dharma (cosmic law) and the others are considered lawless. The Brahma rite is described as the ideal form:
- The gift of a daughter, adorned (with precious clothes) and honoring her (with jewelry), to an educated man who has studied the Veda and has good behavior, whom the father himself invites, is called the Brahma rite (MS III. 27).
The daughter is to be given a dowry . The bride price, however, is rejected (at least for the upper castes). This counts as the sale of the daughter.
- When the groom receives a girl after giving as much wealth to the bride's relatives and to herself as he can afford, by his own will, this is called the asura rite. (MS III.31) (The Asuras are demons and opponents of the gods)
For the first marriage of a “twice-born” man ( Brahmin , Kshatriya , Vaishya ), marriage within one's own caste is recommended. For a second marriage (second wife), the next lower caste comes into question. Polygamy was allowed. A marriage between a Brahmin and a Shudra woman is refused:
- A Brahmin who brings a Shudra woman to his bed will (after his death) sink into hell; if he has a child from her, he will lose his Brahmin rank (MS III.17).
The remarriage of widows is not encouraged in the Manusmriti.
- A virtuous woman who remains chaste after the death of her husband reaches heaven even if she has no son, like those chaste men (MS v.160).
- A woman who, out of longing for offspring, violates her duties to her (deceased) husband, brings in disgrace for herself in this world and loses her place next to her husband (in heaven) (MS V.161).
The Arthashastra (4th century BC. Chr.), However, devotes an entire chapter to the question of the financial situation, if a widow remarries and does not speak a ban on widow marriage from. Also described stridhan (स्त्रीधन, lit .: woman assets ), the dowry.
After the Mitakshara (12th century), the male members of the entire family are co-owners of the family property that the father or other testator manages. The division of inheritance is only a distribution of what one already has a share in (“joint family system”).
legislation
Historical development
Hindu marriage legislation began in 1829 when widow burning ( sati ) was abolished on the initiative of Ram Mohan Roy .
The Hindu Widow's Remarriage Act of 1856 legalized widow remarriage . The Indian Penal Code of 1860 prohibited polygamy . The Native Converts Marriage Dissolution Act of 1866 made divorce easier for Hindus who had adopted the Christian faith. The Special Marriage Act of 1872 introduced optional civil marriage , but did not apply to Hindus. The law stipulated a minimum marriage age for girls of 14 years and introduced monogamy . The Indian Divorce Act , passed in 1869, governed divorce but only applied to Christians.
In 1894, a law was passed in Mysore punishing men who married girls under the age of eight and men over 50 who married girls under the age of 14.
The amendment to the Special Marriage Act of 1923 regulates civil marriages between spouses of different religious origins (Hindus, Buddhists , Sikhs and Jainas ). In 1929, to combat child marriage, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed, requiring girls to be married at 18 and boys at 21.
The Arya Marriage Validation Act of 1937 recognized the legality of inter- caste marriages and marriages to converts to Hinduism among followers of Arya Samaj .
The Hindu Marriage Disabilities Removal Act of 1946 legalized marriages between certain sub-castes (sub-groupings of the Jatis ) and within one's own Gotra (clan) and Pravara (family). In the Hindu Married Women's Right of 1949, women gain the right to their own residence. The Maintenance Act is passed. The Hindu Marriages Validity Act of 1949 legalizes interfaith marriages .
The widow burning of Roop Kanwar led, above all under pressure from women's organizations, to the “The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act” , which made widow burning and the worship of burned widows a punishable offense.
Todays situation
The renewal of Hindu family law developed under Jawaharlal Nehru incorporated a number of older laws from the colonial era , which became obsolete as a result.
The Special Marriage Act , newly enacted in 1954, allows civil marriage for all Indians, regardless of religious denomination. Among other things, it provides the legal basis for interdenominational marriages. The marriage is registered with a "Marriage Officer".
The codification and reform of the Hindu family law only succeeded in the second attempt, by giving up the idea of a real Hindu code and instead passing four coordinated individual laws: In 1955 the Hindu Marriage Act was introduced and in both houses ( Lok Sabha , Rajya Sabha ) adopted. This stipulates that the groom must be at least 21 and the bride at least 18 years old. The marriage can be registered in the Hindu Marriage Register after performing the Hindu ritual ; however, this is not mandatory.
1956 follow the Hindu Succession Act ( inheritance ), the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (parental rights) and the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (adoption law).
The planned abolition of the undivided family community in its most widespread form ( Mitakshara Joint Family ) had to be abandoned in the face of conservative resistance. This core of the agrarian-traditional Hindu society, with the limitation of co-ownership to the male descendants, was retained in inheritance law and with it the institutional background of the dowry being. Legal prohibitions ( The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961) and recently draconian penal provisions against the increasing number of dowry murders have not been able to cope with this.
Apart from that, the family law reform brought far-reaching changes, above all the same women's inheritance law in the case of inheritance, the elimination of all caste barriers for marriage, the introduction of monogamy as equally binding for all castes and, on the other hand, the possibility of a judicial divorce. A later amendment law (66/1976) also added the principle of fault with the principle of disruption .
The changes to the Hindu Succession Act of 2005 put women on an equal footing in inheritance law, including in relation to agricultural property.
Sikhs, Buddhists and Jainas, followers of beliefs that emerged from Hinduism, are also covered by the Hindu Marriage Act . There are separate laws for Muslims , Christians and Parsees .
Rituals
In Hindu society, with its different traditions, there are also very different ways of getting married. The Hindu Marriage Act , which is authoritative in India , does not prescribe a specific ritual for the Hindu marriage, but emphasizes that the ritual used must be recognized in the respective “community” (= caste , Jati ). The law also states that if the Saptpadi (the seven times walking around the fire) is applied, the marriage is final at the seventh circle. (Registration is still recommended)
The most famous and widespread form of marriage today is the so-called Brahman wedding , the first in a list of eight recommended by the most important Hindu legislature, Manu. Exactly it is very time-consuming to prepare and carry out and therefore often took a few days. Today, however, it is usually limited to a few hours or, if the preparations of the bride and groom, such as the cleansing rites, are conscientiously observed, to two days.
The festival is organized by the bride's family and usually takes place in the courtyard under a canopy or in a tent set up especially for this purpose. The focus of the events is a wedding syajna, in which the participants sit cross-legged around the fireplace. A priest leads the ritual and recites Sanskrit mantras sentence by sentence , which the participants repeat. The bride's father ritually hands his daughter over to the groom in the kanyadan ceremony: He puts the two hands together over a jug, wraps them with a flower garland and a red cloth (very similar to the priest's joining of the hands of a Catholic bride and groom), and he blesses she with Ganges water and prays for God's help. For a good start he calls on the name Ganeshas and then the name Kamas, the god of love. Later, women would tie the bride's sari to one end of the groom's shawl as a sign of marital union. This knot is an important feature: it is common to say of someone who is about to get married: “He / she will now tie the knot.”
As the couple continues, the couple hangs large flower chains around each other's necks. Then the priest lit the fire with prayer, which now represents the presence of the divine in the form of Agni .
After some other ceremonies, which can be quite different in the traditions, the most important part of the marriage finally comes: Saptapadi (Sanskrit, f., सप्तपदी, lit .: seven steps) is the most important ritual, which is already mentioned in classical texts. This climax binds the couple together forever. The couple walks around the sacred fire seven times, tied together by the cloths. The higher the caste, the more common the saptapadi, the lower castes originally had different customs with regard to marriage, but here, too, slowly adapted to the ideal of the upper castes. Tradition usually lets the man go ahead while the ancient scriptures see him behind the woman.
Finally he dabs the red color consecrated to her, Sindur , on the crown of the head and on the forehead , which from now on she will always wear as an important sign of blessing for the married woman. She expresses her consent with mantras: "You are welcome!"
Pani Grahan , the taking of hands ceremony, gives a good insight into Hindu understanding of marriage . The man takes the woman's right hand in his hands and speaks the following words:
“I take your hand, may we be happy. May you live long with me, your husband. The gods gave you to me to rule my house. You are the queen of my house. I am Samaveda, you are Rigveda. I am heaven, you the earth. Come on let's get married! ”
Then, “ I take your heart into mine. May our thoughts be one! May God unite us! "
Usually after three days the husband takes his wife with him to his house, where she welcomes the residents with a blessing with butter lamps, incense sticks and flowers. Often there is another big wedding party here. At the time of child marriages, this was the ceremony with which the girl, who had grown up in the meantime, was accepted into the groom's house, in order to perform the marriage, which was sometimes concluded years ago.
The women prepare a romantic start to the marriage for the young couple by decorating the bridal bed over and over with flowers, the obligatory flower bed .
The couple used to see each other for the first time by the fire. The parents were trusted to have chosen the right partner. Today young people usually have the opportunity to see each other beforehand, while urban youth can usually also meet with their future partner and, if necessary, reject the proposed choice.
More and more young Hindus are now choosing their own partner.
Hindus in India who want to marry without a Hindu ritual can do so under the Special Marriage Act (without forfeiting their Hindu status). This is a civil marriage (with the district's "marriage officer") that does not require any religious ritual.
dowry
The The Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961 prohibits paying a dowry, but allows gifts to the bride to the wedding explicitly. Dowry is defined as possession or valuable collateral that is handed over or agreed upon, be it direct or indirect. Demands for dowry are also punishable.
The dowry was originally intended in the form of “women's assets ” ( Stridhan ), mostly in the form of gold jewelry, for the daughter's sole use. It was considered a shame for the husband if he sold this woman's money. This should only be done in an emergency and with the consent of the woman, when it came to avoiding the sale of land on which the family lived.
In the course of time the dowry became more extensive, practically the price one would pay for a groom befitting his rank.
In the lower boxes, in which the woman has always worked herself, the dowry is unknown; a bride price is paid here. Since the bride price is a typical feature of a low caste status, many self-respecting families have already changed and are demanding "wedding gifts" for their sons.
The fact that, according to inheritance law, daughters are entitled to inherit and at the same time, dowries are still common, means that daughters are viewed as a "loss-making business".
The term Stridhana is mentioned several times in the classic legal texts:
- A wife's stridhana consists of an amount for her maintenance and her jewelry. The former should have the form of an equipment of at least 2000 Panas. There is no limit to the number of pieces of jewelry (AS 3.2.14.15).
- Any dowry that is paid should go to the father or mother. You are only entitled to one dowry. If a second dowry is paid upon remarriage, the woman should receive it (AS 3.2.11-13).
To Stridhana but also the husband's gifts during the marriage and wedding gifts include the family of the husband of the bride.
Web links
- FAQ on Women and Hindu Marriage Law
- Hindu Succession Act, 1956
- The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
- Special Marriage Act, 1954
- Stridhan - History of the Dowry in India
- Inheritance Law - Major Changes 2005
Individual evidence
- ↑ Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 ( Memento of the original of March 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act ( Memento of the original of November 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , exact legal text from 1987.
- ↑ Cf .: Maja Daruwala: Central Sati Act - analysis on. ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 1988.
