Marriage and it’s Importance in Hinduism
What is a Marriage?
Mating is preponderantly a psychophysical phenomenon involving the pairing off of individuals of opposite sex under the influence of the sexual drive. But all mating are not marriages. Marriage is something else. When mating gets social approval and when it controls the relations of a mated pair to each other, their kinsmen, their offspring, and society at large, it will be known as a marriage. It defines all the institutional demands, rights, duties, immunities etc. of the pair known as husband and wife. It is the institution that shapes the form and activities of the association known as family. Thus, marriage is the basis of human society. In other words, marriage produces society.
Marriage is the foundation stone of the basic social unit known as family. It serves as a bridge in bringing close two sets of relatives of the connubial pair on the event of marriage. The sharing of responsibility on the part of husband and wife gives the human marriage a unique stability and dimension. It defines the inter-personal relationship of the kinsmen of the married couple. Marriage is, therefore, a cultural complex. Marriage as a social institution is universal.
Importance of Marriage in Hinduism
The traditional Hindu marriage is a religious sacrament and not a civil contract.
It is a sort of holy performance based on religious rites, with conspicuous utterance of Vedic montras (incantations) in the presence of the members of the society.
The fire-god and the high god, Narayana, are kept as witnesses of such a sacrament and are worshipped during the proceedings of marriage rituals. So, according to Hindu Law marriage is indissoluble.
In Hindu marriage, according to Shastras, husband is regarded as a god by the wife even if he is full of vices.
But now the traditional outlook has been changed to a great extent. Husbands have been brought down to the level of ordinary human beings. If he indulges to adultery or any sort of immoral traffic, divorce may immediately be lodged against him. Both the husband and wife have the equal right of their individual ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’. The dominance of the male in the matrimonial alliances has sharply been reduced in the context of modern social value.
