Types of Marriages

Marriages have always held a very important role in India. It is probably the most important amongst the basic 16 samskAras or rituals that everybody is expected to undergo during their life. As per the Dharma shastras followed in India, marriages have been divided into 8 types. It looks like this classification is made based on the qualities of the bride, the groom and the way the groom approaches the bride's family with the marriage proposal.

The main dharma shastras referenced are the "Manu Smrithi" and "Ashvalayana's Grihya Sutras".


brAhma vivAha(ब्राह्मविवाह:/ಬ್ರಾಹ್ಮ ವಿವಾಹ) - For this type of marriage, a bride's father looks for a groom who is well-educated, knowledgeable, well-mannered, healthy, and is appropriate for the bride. The father then invites the groom, welcomes him home, honors him appropriately and arranges for the marriage of his daughter to such a groom.

As per the dharmashastras, the father's intention with getting his daughter married to such a groom was so that they lead a life of dharma (or duty) and produce worthy offspring who in turn will become good citizens and live according to dharma. The shastras say that offspring born to the bride of such a marriage will remove his/her own sins and those of 10 generations before and 10 generations after (a total fo 21 generations). This type of marriage has been hailed as the best as per the shastras.

daiva vivAha(दैवविवाह:/ದೈವ ವಿವಾಹ) - After the performance of yagnas, many times the the conductor of the yagna gives away his daughter to the Ritwik or the head priest who performed the yagna. Since this marriage is associated with rituals connected with Devathas, this is known as the daiva marriage. The daughter is given away in place of the dakshina to be given to the Ritwik. The father of the bride honors the main priest by giving him his daughter.

It looks like in the days of yore when yagnas were very common, this type of marriage was a common practice in some communities and there are accounts that many head priests ended up with many wives from the many yagnas they officiated over. Maintaining such large families might have been hard for these head-priests. Because of this and also because of the drastic reduction in the number of yagnas that take place, this type of marriage is no longer seen anywhere.

On certain occasions, in some communities, a token amount of money is given to the Ritwik instead of a daughter in marriage. Many commentators have strongly suggested that this not really a marriage of exchanging a daughter for services rendered by the head priest but an honoring of the priest by the father.

ArSHa vivAha(आर्षविवाह:/ಆರ್ಷ ವಿವಾಹ) - This type of marriage seems to have a fixed set of rules on when it can occur. If a man helps the doer of a yagna conduct the yagna by donating one or two cows (with the intention that the cows and their produce be used for the yagna), then the one who conducts the yagna can honor the donor of the cows by giving him his daughter in marriage. Note that the father of the bride cannot take more than one or two cows, and the intention of taking those cow(s) should be specifically to conduct a yagna.

This type of marriages are not seen any more.

prAjApatya vivAha(प्राजापत्यविवाह:/ಪ್ರಾಜಾಪತ್ಯ ವಿವಾಹ) - The father of a bride searches and finds a groom who is appropriate and worthy of his daughter, and arranges for his marriage. He instructs both the bride and the groom to live according to follow their duties and live according to their dharma in both worldly and spiritual matters. One of the main aims of this marriage is for the couple to lead a happy life, and have children who are worthy citizens.

Both the husband and the wife have equal standing in such a marriage and together lead a life in pursuit of dharma (righteous duty), artha (prosperity), and kama (desire). During the marriage rituals, the father of the bride specifically instructs the bride and the groom that they should live equally following the pursuits of dharma, artha and kama.

In today's Indian society, I think this is the marriage that is most common and the one that we colloquially know as "arranged marriage".

Asura vivAha(आसुरविवाह:/ಆಸುರ ವಿವಾಹ) - If a groom pays money to the bride or the bride's family and gets married to the bride, then the marriage is known as Asura marriage. In many cases, the bride might choose to get married to a groom based on how much money he is willing to give her. Unlike the rakshasa or paishachya marriages, the bride cannot be forced into marriage. It has to be with her consent.


This marriage does seem like one where the bride is being sold for money. However, as per the shastras, even the bride can choose to get married to somebody who is willing to pay her money.

gAndharva vivAha(गान्धर्वविवाह:/ಗಾಂಧರ್ವ ವಿವಾಹ) - This is one of the marriages that has been popularly known due to its depictions in Indian movies. As per the shastras, if a girl and a boy decide to get married to each other out of their desires for each other, and reach an agreement that they will get married, then it is known as a gAndharva marriage. Note, that the parents of the bride have no role to play in such a marriage. As per the shastras, such a marriage is only allowed amongst adults.

This type of marriage is a pretty ancient practice as mention of this marriage has been made in the RgVeda. Most of the shastras seem to indicate that such marriages took place after the bride and groom had known each other for a long time, and then decided to get married rather than a marriage of "love at first sight". It is also indicated that if a boy or girl decide to get married in this way, then they should select a partner who is worthy of them to ensure the success of the marriage.

I guess this is what is colloquially known as "love marriage".

rAkSHasa vivAha(राक्षसविवाह:/ರಾಕ್ಷಸ ವಿವಾಹ) - If a man gets married to a woman using force i.e. he does not obtain the consent of the woman or her family for the marriage, and uses violence and force to kidnap the woman with the intention of getting married to her, then it is known as rakshasa marriage. The shastras describe that there might be war and fighting between the groom and the bride's family with the latter trying to prevent the abduction of the bride.

There are some instances in our puranas and itihasas where such marriages seem to have taken place - such as Krishna abducting Rukmini and fighting with Rukmini's family. However, in most of these cases, the bride had wished for the marriage though her family was opposed to it. This is not an example of rakshasa marriage. For the rakshasa marriage, the abduction has to be against the will of the bride too.

paishAca vivAha(पैशाचविवाह:/ಪೈಶಾಚ ವಿವಾಹ) - This is considered to be the lowest type of marriage. It is similar to the rakshasa marriage, except that the bride is abducted while is sleeped, drugged or otherwise unconscious. And so, while the abduction is against the wishes of the bride or her family, it also happens without the knowledge of the bride.

There are a few things of interest to note from the above descriptions.

• In all cases the act of the giving of the bride to the groom or the kanyAdAna is considered extremely auspicious and the highest form of dAna.
• There is no concept of "dowry" or "varadakshina" in the shastras. If at all anything, in one or two types of marriages, the groom has to pay the bride or her family (opposite of dowry). And so, this whole concept of dowry is against our shastras and seems to be something of a more recent origin.
• The parents of the groom seem to have no role to play in the marriage process. All the formalities, decision-making and the rituals are between the groom, the bride and the father of the bride.
• The last 2 types of marriage (rakshasa & paishachya) specifically state that such a marriage is against the wishes of the bride. This would imply that the first 6 types of marriage implicitly include the consent of the bride in the marriage. In no case do the shastras indicate that the marriage can be done against the will or consent of the bride except in the rakshasa and paishacya marriages.

I wrote up this article as I found the 8 types of marriages in ancient India interesting. All the material for the description of the marriages is from the book "Samskara Mahodadhi:" written by the eminently knowledgeable and profound author Sri.A.Ananthanarasimhachar.

Interesting Tale

This was an interesting tale about a Bhutanese Buddhist monk narrated to us by our guide Mr.Tandin Dorji while touring in Bhutan.

Once a Buddhist monk was walking through a forest where he was a accosted by a fair lady who refused to let him pass unless he fulfilled one of her 3 conditions:

• Either he had to marry her
• Or he had to kill and eat a goat that she had with her
• Or he had to drink a bottle of Ara (a local liquor brewed from red rice)

For a Buddhist monk, all 3 are forbidden as he vowed to a life of celibacy, his faith does not let him harm or kill other living beings, and as a monk he is not allowed to consume liquor. But since he was not left with any choice, he debated and decided that the best option for him was to drink the bottle of Ara, which is what he did.

And then in his drunken stupor, he ended up marrying the woman, and killing and eating the goat. You can figure out the moral of the story...