Inter-caste marriage- a note of discussion.

Today a daily newspaper the Hindustan Times published an article captioned Inter-caste marriage a taboo in caste driven Bihar. The article attributes lesser number (hardly touching a thousand) of Inter-caste marriages during past three years to low publicity, low urbanization and less than actual reporting of these marriages on account of loss of face perceived by parents of the couple thus married. It further pointed out the scheme launched to provide monetary grant to such couples since 1979 failed to gain momentum despite enhancement in the grant to double the original amount of rupees 50000 in the year 2015 by the government.
All these suggest that the people in the state still don't support or welcome Inter-caste marriages to say the least.  The reasons apart from those indicated above may be rooted in the culture that people of the state hold dear. They feel their family custom and tradition may stand vitiated by the entry of a bride belonging to the caste other than theirs. They feel safe and secure while contracting marriage within their caste fold. It is altogether different that this sense of emotional security is soon seen disappeared when the bride graduates from being submissive to decisive to the point of her  becoming so much authoritative.  Nowadays it, more often than not is seen culminating in dismissal of in laws from the house the latter lived/built earlier. Besides other factors that militate against the Inter caste marriages are passion of the bihari for getting dowry whose possibility is bleak in case of marriages solemnised outside the caste fold of birth. Though the government of the day is very keen to curb this evil practice of dowry by more ways than one the results thereof is yet to come satisfactorily. This is due to the underhand dealings of the parties to marriage. Nevertheless one has reason to believe that given a change in the mindset of the young couple dowry will certainly see its lowest ebb. A dowry preceded /followed marriage leaves a bitter memory for such people as by virtue of their mental make up or true education view it to be an extortion in disguise. Inter- caste marriage will definitely get a philip with the increase in the breakdown of the joint family, rise in the expectations of the so called educated young man and women nourishing the notion that getting a match within their caste is just difficult. Urbanization, seeking jobs in the smart cities, privatization and globalization of the economy are in supportive role in their own ways so far as Inter caste marriages are concerned.
While we have heard much about the evils of the caste system, we conveniently ignore the principle on the basis of which this system of caste was built and perfected. It is made clear at the very outset of the discussion that follows that defending the evils perpetrated by the caste system is not the purpose of the present discussion in the context of what has already been discussed. No discussion on hindu society is complete without caste system which is so entrenched therein. Caste system ipso facto or per se was not bad nor originally intended to perpetuate a feeling of high or low associated with any caste/s. Rather this caste system was a brilliant innovation of the makers of the hindu society. The architect of the Hinduism  having perceived the ground reality that the land called Aryavarta was not only inhabited by the aryans only but it also formed a destination point of settlement of a number of invading races, tribes coming to this land in various phases of Indian history. Their arrivals were differently sourced and varied in purposes. Some came to conquer while yet others came to this territory for the purpose of boosting their trades and perfecting their occupations. These arrivals, often in phases and in the form of wave after wave were not unaccompanied with their chequered belief systems, distinct religious beliefs, cultures, customs, occupational practices, different pantheon of gods and goddesses etc. The integration or rather synthesis thereof must have been a formidable task. The people inhabiting the regions south of the Vindhyas were already having their own set of beliefs and practices. In order that these stocks must exist in peace with others, a system must be in place to keep their identity intact. In the backdrop of this process of synthesis the Hindus which had originally a territorial connotation referred by the Persian with regard to the people inhabiting the region south of the Indus it ultimately assumed a creedal significance due to such synthesis. And thus a religion named Hinduism came into existence before which was a major challenge as to how to keep these people, races, tribes, aborigines within its fold.  Thus caste system was seen as a tool of synthesizing the hindu society. This guaranteed the original identity remaining intact in the course of such mixing by a number of ways including inter marrying.
Hence the caste system was a solution towards preventing a situation wherein these people would fight in the name of occupational encroachments, unregulated marrying etc. Thus the mosaic of  Hindu society was built out of different materials collected from chequered sources. Superiority or inferiority was no where in the scheme of things when this caste system assumed its shape save that it was the natural identity obtained through occupational engagement that was sought to be protected. And there is nothing wrong with it if that formed the rationale behind its constitution. We sometime imagine how the hindu society would have been had there been no caste system. If not the caste system, what would have the tools in the hands of those makers or the architects undertaking the task of forming a hindu society composed of aboriginals, originals, invaders and traders etc. having different culture, occupation and belief systems and who continued to come in phases, in waves only to settle on the territory called Indian sub continent.
             R.R.Prabhakar
                    29.06.2018