Indian Wedding Traditions : Ancient India

Marriage is described as two people as partners in a personal relationship. There are two typical ideas of marriage that we know today. The first one that comes to mind is the one we all know, based on love, but there is another one that some may not even know of and its arranged marriages. Arranged marriage is not typically in our culture we know but in different cultures arranged marriages are their normal marriage. Throughout this essay, I will discuss the importance of realizing cultural diversity and how we apply the perspectives we gain from cross-cultural comparison to our own experience using central concepts about marriage to compare and contrast marriage in several cultures.

Marriage practices vary across cultures. Every culture has its own way of conducting marriage according to their traditions and customs. Most cultures share common customs and practices, while some cultures have unique practices. Marriage refers to a social union agreed upon by the couples to unit as spouses. The union of couples implies sexual relations, permanence in union, and procreation. This research paper focuses on comparing marriage practices in American and Indian culture. There is significant difference between the two cultures in marriage practices.

In the film Monsoon Wedding, Indian culture is illustrated in the practices of the traditional Punjabi wedding. The wedding in the film was arranged as is the norm in Indian culture. Thought the wedding was rushed it was not forced. Aditi wanted to be married having realised the uncertainty of her previous relationship with a married man.

Allison Glazebrook and Kelly Olson’s chapter, “Greek and Roman Marriage" the authors discuss marriage practices in Ancient Greece and Rome and highlight the importance of wives in a family structure and society. They do so by looking at what was required for a legitimate marriage over the course of these civilizations’ history. In both cultures, Glazebrook and Olson especially look at how women and girls’ bodies were policed and defined. From an early age, girls were taught that their role in life would be remain sexually available to their husbands and produce heirs. From a modern perspective, girls in ancient civilizations married extremely young. However, this chapter address the “scientific” justification society gave to promote this practice

The Islamic and Hindu religions have an array of similarities and differences regarding their customs and laws in relation to the ‘wedding ceremony’.

Denise Ryan’s “Getting married in B.C. today more about choice than numbers,” illustrates multiple perspectives on the concept of marriage. Marriage is a memorable occasion; it allows individuals to exhibit their emotions and devote his/her love to one another. While the significance of marriage remains the same, society's ideologies have evolved in numerous ways.

Soon after a girl hits puberty, she is considered ready for marriage. Marriages were almost always arranged by the families of the bride and

A few girls learned to read and write, but not many. Although some of the girls learned to read and write they still were required to get married. The father of the girls chose their husbands to make sure that they had the right man in their life; the girls’ husbands were usually in their thirties. They day the girl got married she’d have to sacrifice her toys to the goddess, Artemis, to show she was a grown-up. After all this took place she had to go away and take a wedding gift, or dowry, as she began her life with her husband. (BBE Bitesize - KS2 History - Ancient

People often said that daughters were “someone else’s treasure” and that the sooner you parted ways with them the “better off” everyone was (Sheth 9). As a result of this male dominated mindset and society, women were caught in a cycle of misery and restraint that was seemed impossible to abandon (Indian Women). Unfortunately, it gave rise to some of the most evil practices in the Indian culture, such as Sati, child marriage and the limitations on female education.

Girls all over the world are forced into marriages due to financial necessity, tradition and to ensure their future. Most of these girls married are at a young age: “One third of the world’s girls are married before the age of 18 and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15”( “Child Marriage Facts and Figures”). The young ages of those being married reveal how crucial it is to resolve this problem. When child marriage occurs the parents of the bride usually chose the groom for their daughters; and these grooms can be three times older than the young brides. Some children are brought into the world of marriage at the of 8 or sometimes less depending on their cultural views. The following can be used to help reduce the impact of early

In the late 1800’s through early 1900’s women and men were did not “tie the knot” like the women and men do in today’s day. In today’s world, women and men get married because they have many things in common, they are in love with each other, and they choose to get married to one another. In many stories written back then, readers can expect to read about how marriages were arranged and how many people were not having the wedded bliss marriage proclaims today.

In many of the cultures in these parts of the world honor is of vital importance. It is a great shame to one’s family for a girl to have sex outside of marriage, consensual or otherwise. Women who have sex outside of wedlock are ostracized from their communities and at times even killed in order to cleanse the family honor. Based on these beliefs, a father (as it is almost always the men of the family who arrange marriages) may marry his daughter off early in an effort to protect her and the family. In Yemen there is a proverb that says “To guarantee a happy marriage, marry a nine-year-old girl” (Ali 74), and in Nigeria it is “considered shameful for a girl to menstruate more than once while still residing in her parents’ home” (Haberland

Marriage is a significant social event in contemporary society. It is a means of building new bonds between two individuals and their subsequent families. The foundations of memorable weddings are built on those that bring often-distant family and friends together for the occasion, while dressed in their most sophisticated attire, surrounded by elegant flowers, a night of dancing, captured through the lens of an exceptional photographer. Although Hinduism and Islam are two extremely distinctive religions, their matrimonial customs do share some comparable elements, like most other cultural wedding ceremonies. In both religions, they are devotedly obedient concerning religious and cultural practices in their marital ceremonies.

Arranged marriages are set up by friends and family, and sometimes by a matchmaker that sets up the marriage. But the bride’s father has the most responsibility in arranging marriage for his daughter, and is the one who approaches the father of a potential bridegroom. Important aspects when considering a possible match are financial status, caste, and the bride and bridegrooms horoscopes matching. The role of astrology is important, and if a Hindu priest finds that the horoscopes of the potential spouses do not match, they will not marry, and must begin the search all over again (Livermore, 2009). India’s view of marriage first and then love is very different from the Western view where love comes before marriage, seems to be successful. The

The second category as to why girls are married off so young, is poverty. Education can be a solution to child marriage, however it is too expensive and so families do not see it as necessary if they will marry their daughter into another family. In India, it is tradition for a woman to leave her