Page 72 - DSOC201_SOCIAL_STRUCTURE_AND_SOCIAL_CHANGE_ENGLISH

Unit 3: Marriage

3.1.1 Motivations in Marriage Notes

All roles have certain motivations. What is the motivation in marriage? It is maintained that in the
early periods, an individual married because of the practical problems related to getting a living.
These practical problems were that people wanted children for economic reasons. They wanted them
as an insurance against wants when they (parents) could no longer work for themselves. They also
wanted more women to work on fields. This does not mean that there was no love or companionship
in early marriage. Only practical reasons were more important.
According to Bowman (1960), the basic objects of marriage are: sex gratification, desire for home and
children, companionship, social position and prestige, and economic security and protection. Popenoe
(1951) has talked of five elements of marriage: mating urge, division of labour, desire for home and
children, comradeship (sexually as well as non-sexually covered), and economic security. Bowman
has rejected ‘fulfilment of personality’ as the object of marriage. He says that it is not the purpose but
the result of marriage.
According to Majumdar although regularized and socially sanctioned sex gratification is a basic
reason for marriage (and the formation of family), yet it is not the only nor the final cause. He gives
the example of Sema Nagas among whom a child marries his father’s widows (other than his mother)
to get possession of the property because according to their tribal custom, not the children but man’s
widows inherit his property. Thus, Mujumadar believes that the objects of marriage are: sex
gratification, need for a dependable social mechanism for the care and rearing of children, transmission
of culture, economic needs, and inheritance of property.
Today, as ‘traditional’ society is changing into a ‘modern’ one, these practical reasons for marriage
have been relegated to a minor position. The main motivations of marriage now are believed to be
escape from the feelings of loneliness and for the purpose of living through others. In simple words,
we may say, the main object of marriage today appears to be ‘companionship’ or ‘comradeship’. This
does not exclude the object of sex-gratification from its scope. What is being suggested is that sex-
gratification and all other objects today are secondary to the one mentioned above (that is,
companionship).
In the traditional Hindu society, the main objects of marriage were believed to be: dharma (righteousness
or the performance of duty), praja (progeny), and rati (pleasure). Of these, dharma was given the
greatest importance, followed by procreation and sex-gratification. Daftri has also said that sexual
enjoyment was not regarded as the sole objective of (Hindu) marriage. The primary object was dharma
or the fulfilment of one’s duties. There was, thus, little idea of ‘individual interest’ in Hindu marriage.
Marriage was considered to be a ‘social duty’ towards the family and the community.
3.1.2 Hindu Marriage: A Sacrament

Marriage being mainly performed for dharma and not for pleasure, it was considered a sacrament
among Hindus. Several reasons may be given for considering the Hindu marriage sacred: (i) dharma
(fulfilment of religious duties) was the highest aim of marriage; (ii) performance of the religious
ceremony included certain rites like havan, kanyadan, panigrahana, saptapadi, etc., which, being based
on the sacred formula, were considered sacred; (iii) the rites were performed before agni (the most
sacred God) by reciting mantras (passages) from Vedas (the most sacred scriptures) by a Brahmin (the
most sacred person on earth); (iv) the union was considered indissoluble and irrevocable and husband
and wife were bound to each other not only until death but even after the death; (v) though a man
performed several sacraments during the course of his life, a woman performed only one sacrament
of marriage in her life, hence its greatest importance for her; (vi) emphasis was on chastity of a
woman and the faithfulness of a man; and (vii) marriage was considered to be a ‘social duty’ towards
the family and the community and there was little idea of individual interest and aspiration.
Since Hindu marriage has undergone changes in the last few decades, does it continue to be sacred or
it is to be treated as a contract? The two significant changes in Hindu marriage are that young people
today marry not for performing duties but for companionship; and the marital relations are no longer
unbreakable, as divorce is socially and legally permissible. Scholars are of the opinion that permitting

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