Sacrament of marriage in Hindu society : from Vedic period to Dharmasastras C.1

The Vivaha Sakta of Rgveda gives first clear picture of the primary marriage ritual, while the Sutra and Sastra texts give a fully developed marriage ritual prescribing a number of details to be followed. Further the Sastra texts represent a landmark in social history of India. The dos and don'ts prescribed by the law-givers like Manu still continue to affect the social life of the Hindus. Hence this particular period was chosen for investigation.

The method of study followed is that of critical and analytical investigation of the original Sanskrit texts pertaining to the sacrament of marriage. All the data collected is present ed under different heads. In the first section all the Vedic texts are studied starting from the Vivaha Sakta i.e. Reveda X.85. The texts from the Atharvaveda, Yajurveda, Brahmanas and the Upanisads are also included in this section. Along with the ritual aspect of marriage, the social aspect of marriage is also considered. At the end of the section are noted the conclusions arrived at after the textual analysis. In this an attempt has been made to examine the view that polyandric and chaotic conditions prevailed during the Vedic period.

The topic of marriage has been studied by many scholars from different points of view like social, legal etc. The special aspect of this work is that herein one will find an analytical investigation of all the evidence about marriage. Evolutionary aspect of ritual and social conditions is another special feature of this work. At every stage the marriage ritual and prevailing social conditions are detailed out.

In the second section Sutra and Sastra texts concerning the sacrament of marriage are critically examined. The Grhya Sutras mainly deal with the ritual of marriage. It has been found that they prescribe a fully sophisticated ritual with all the details and niceties. On the other hand, the Dharmaśāstras deal primarily with social aspect of marriage like polygamy, age of the bride and groom, widow-remarriage, levirate etc. In this section also the conclusions derived are noted at the end of the textual study.

The third section is divided into two parts. In the first one an attempt has been made to discover the impact of the injunc tions of the law-givers on the life of the people in the twentieth century. The social position of women of present day has been viewed from this point of view. Further the Indian marriage ritual is compared with marriage ritual of various other countries. The Indo-Germanic character of some rites like Hastagrahana i.e. grasping of hands or Agniparinayana circumambulations, has also been discussed. The significance of various marriage rites and the influence of black magic and superstitions is also considered. The last part of this section is a Resumé. In this part, a pen-picture of marriage ritual and social conditions starting from Vedic period upto Dharmasastra is given. This clearly shows how the ritual evolved and the social conditions changed from time to time. In the end, a plan of marriage ritual is suggested considering modern condi tions as well as the historical character of various rites.