DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16243#0189
CASTE AND MARRIAGE i55
to marry is hampered by numerous conditions. In the West
the field from which a man can choose his wife is practically
unlimited. The restrictions based on consanguinity are tew,
and all but an insignificant number of marriages are determined
by the free choice of persons who have attained physical
maturity, and believe that they know their own minds^ in
India, throughout the ever widening area dominated by Hindu
tradition or influence, one set of rules contracts the circle
within which a man must marry; another set artiticiaiiy
expands the circle within which he may not marry; a third
series of conventions imposes special disabilities on the
marriage of women. A fourth injunction, not as yet universal
but constantly gaining ground, forbids a widow to marry
again. Under the regime of infant marriage, wedded Hie too
often commences before physical maturity has set in and the
children thus united make their first acquaintance when they
are already husband and wife. Polygamy tempered by poverty,
and two iorms of polyandry, both tending to disappear under
the influence of popular disapproval, complete the series ot
contrasts between Indian and European marriage customs.
We shall consider later on how far the dry figures oi the
census bear witness to the far-reaching consequences ol these
restrictions on the natural tendencies of the human race, tfut
before examining the statistics it will be of interest to describe
more fully the customs alluded to above. Two ol these,
endogamy and exogamy, are common to all primitive societies.
Polyandry and polygamy are found JnsgveraLsocieties
are not primitive. Infant marriage, and_jhe_^ubitp_ol
widow remarriage are, 1 believe, peculiar to India.* Hy^r-
gamy, though it is met with in other jLOuntries, is probably
more fully^ developed in India than anywhere else in the
wprkk In describing these rules it is impossible to avoid
constanbreference to the social groups—tribes, castes and the
Hke-by which their operation is determined. Marriage is the
most prominent factor in the caste system, and the customs
which regulate marriage can only be described in terms ol
caste or of some tribal unit which closely resembles a caste or
represents a stage in the process by which caste has been
evolved. The only people to whom this remark does not
apply are the Burmese and other races of further India. 1 he
* [The custom of infant marriage and the prohibition of remarriage of widows prevailn
Oth« countries besides India (E. Wcstermarck, The History of Human Mar,,aSe, 1891.
P- ns'etseg., 127.)]
to marry is hampered by numerous conditions. In the West
the field from which a man can choose his wife is practically
unlimited. The restrictions based on consanguinity are tew,
and all but an insignificant number of marriages are determined
by the free choice of persons who have attained physical
maturity, and believe that they know their own minds^ in
India, throughout the ever widening area dominated by Hindu
tradition or influence, one set of rules contracts the circle
within which a man must marry; another set artiticiaiiy
expands the circle within which he may not marry; a third
series of conventions imposes special disabilities on the
marriage of women. A fourth injunction, not as yet universal
but constantly gaining ground, forbids a widow to marry
again. Under the regime of infant marriage, wedded Hie too
often commences before physical maturity has set in and the
children thus united make their first acquaintance when they
are already husband and wife. Polygamy tempered by poverty,
and two iorms of polyandry, both tending to disappear under
the influence of popular disapproval, complete the series ot
contrasts between Indian and European marriage customs.
We shall consider later on how far the dry figures oi the
census bear witness to the far-reaching consequences ol these
restrictions on the natural tendencies of the human race, tfut
before examining the statistics it will be of interest to describe
more fully the customs alluded to above. Two ol these,
endogamy and exogamy, are common to all primitive societies.
Polyandry and polygamy are found JnsgveraLsocieties
are not primitive. Infant marriage, and_jhe_^ubitp_ol
widow remarriage are, 1 believe, peculiar to India.* Hy^r-
gamy, though it is met with in other jLOuntries, is probably
more fully^ developed in India than anywhere else in the
wprkk In describing these rules it is impossible to avoid
constanbreference to the social groups—tribes, castes and the
Hke-by which their operation is determined. Marriage is the
most prominent factor in the caste system, and the customs
which regulate marriage can only be described in terms ol
caste or of some tribal unit which closely resembles a caste or
represents a stage in the process by which caste has been
evolved. The only people to whom this remark does not
apply are the Burmese and other races of further India. 1 he
* [The custom of infant marriage and the prohibition of remarriage of widows prevailn
Oth« countries besides India (E. Wcstermarck, The History of Human Mar,,aSe, 1891.
P- ns'etseg., 127.)]