Revision summary
Hindu custom treated marriage as a samskara; modern statutes treat it as a civil bond that can end in divorce. Registration, later marriage, and some love and inter-caste unions weaken a purely sacred monopoly. Most unions remain ritualised and endogamous, and divorce is still socially costly. The fair view is loss of exclusive value, not disappearance. Rights inside marriage matter more than declaring the sacrament dead.
Model answer
Flow diagram
flowchart TD S[Samskara ritual] --> M[Modern Indian marriage] C[HMA 1955 SMA 1954 divorce] --> M M --> L[Sacrament loses monopoly] M --> H[Endogamy ritual still hold]
Conclusion
- Register every marriage, enforce the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, and the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, without mocking ritual that couples still want.
- Expand the Special Marriage Act as a real option so sacrament and contract can coexist without coercion.
Sacramental marriage is losing exclusive authority because law, divorce, and choice now share the field. It still organises most Indian weddings through ritual and endogamy, so the task is equal rights inside marriage, not a forced funeral of ritual.
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Next question on this syllabus topic (2023 · Q10). View answer →
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Has Indian marriage become only a contract?
Law allows contract features such as registration and divorce. Social practice still uses sacred rites and caste gates.
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Does a low divorce rate prove the sacrament is intact?
It proves exit is hard. Stigma and economics can trap people even when the sacred meaning is already thin.
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