Page 101 - DSOC402_SOCIOLOGY_OF_KINSHIP_ENGLISH

Unit 14: Mate Selection in India and West

I. Endogamy Notes

The endogamy means that a person should select his life mate in his group only. Defining this
Dr. Reverse writes, “Endogamy refers to that exchange in which the selection of life-mate from
own group is necessary.
In Vedic and later Vedic period the Dvijas (Brahmin, Kshatriya and Vaishya) had one class and
people of Dvija class marries in their class only. Shudra class was separate. In Smriti period
inter-class marriages were acknowledged, but when a class is divided into castes and sub-castes
then the range of marriage became limited and people started marrying in the same caste of sub
caste and now this was termed as endogamy. Kapadia had discussed many sub-branches of a
caste “Bania” of class Vaishya like, Ladh, Modh, Porwarh, Naagar, Srimali etc. Ladh itself is
divided into two sub-divisions ‘Bisa’ and ‘Dassa’. ‘Bisa’ itself divided in Ahemdabadi, Khambati
etc. local divisions. Every division is an endogamous. Some sub-divisions like ‘Gol’, ‘Ekra’ etc.
are there which limits the scope of selection to a local boundary. People of villages marry their
daughters with the people of towns, but the town people do not give their daughters to a villager.
In this situation a region for marriage has to be established which is called ‘Gol’ or ‘Ekra’. In
modern time, a person marries to member of his own caste, sub-caste, species, religion, region,
language and class. Ketkar had said that, “Some Hindu families are such that they don’t out of
fifteen families. On one hand we get to see inter-caste marriages and international marriages on
the other hand due to endogamy the scope of marriage became limited.

Causes of Endogamy
There are many specific and cultural reasons to limit the scope of marriage, which are as
following:
1. Ban on Mixing of Species: In different periods of time, many species of people came in In-
dia and they had mixed themselves in any of the class. To prevent inter specific marriages,
inter class marriages were banned. Specially, this was done to prevent the mixing of blood
of Aryans and Dravidians.
2. Cultural Variation: There were wider variation in the cultures of Aryans and Dravidians
and Brahmin invaders. Due to this there were difficulties in marriage relations. When class-
es were divided in different castes and sub-castes, the cultural variation also increased.
Every caste and sub-caste wanted to maintain its cultural significance. So they preferred the
endogamy.
3. Importance of Birth: In the beginning a person was accessed according to his deeds, but
gradually the importance of birth has increased and the spirit of blood purity was strength-
ened, as a result endogamy flourished.
4. Development of Jainism and Buddhism: Jain and Buddh religion has taken birth due to
reaction against Brahmanism. Due to this, the power of Brahmins was declined, but as soon
as these religions get fainted, Brahmins made rigid caste rules to regain their lost status and
the rules of endogamy were started following strictly.
5. Muslim Invasion: Muslim invader had done a cruel assault on the religion and culture of
Hindus. They started marrying Hindu girls. To refrain from this situation and to prevent
their culture and religion, Hindu had made the rules of endogamy rigid.
6. Child Marriage: In medieval period, when child marriage increased the rules of endogamy
was started following because when the parents arrange the marriage they cannot think
against the rules of endogamy.
7. Regional centralization of Sub-castes: Living in the separate regions in geographical view
and due to lack of means of transport and communication the mutual contact of sub-castes
were not possible. Thus the sub-castes living in a region has preferred to marry in among
their members.

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