Revision summary
Marriage remains sacred for most as ritual, honour, and endogamy. NFHS and Census show near-universal marriage. Live-in law and companionate ideals thin the halo for some. Karve’s kinship still gates the sacred circle. Comment: continued sacred core; contractual margin; gendered policing.
Model answer
Introduction
Sacred here means set apart, ritually charged, and morally obligatory. In India, marriage remains widely sacred as honour and sacrament for many communities. Law, live-in judgments, and delayed urban weddings have desacralised it for a minority. The institution continues, with a thinner halo in some classes.
Body
Continuity of the sacred
- Census and NFHS still show near-universal marriage, especially for women, and strong stigma of never-marrying.
- Caste endogamy and wedding ritual keep Durkheim’s sacred–profane split around the knot.
- Irawati Karve’s kinship systems still organise who may marry.
Cracks
- Courts on live-in unions treat some households as legal without a full rite.
- Divorce, delayed marriage, and the new middle class’s companionate talk, after Anthony Giddens, thin the sacrament into a contract.
- Inter-caste and across-region marriages profane older sacred boundaries even when a wedding occurs.
Comment
- Sacred for the majority as honour; legally more contractual than before.
- Not dead. Not untouched.
- Gendered sacredness still polices women more than men.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD MAR[Marriage] --> SAC[Ritual honour endogamy] MAR --> CON[Contract live-in delay] SAC --> MAJ[Majority sacred] CON --> MIN[Urban legal margin]
Conclusion
Marriage continues to be sacred in Indian society as a mass honour rite and a kinship rule. Comment: the sacred persists, while law and urban class practice add a contractual edge. NFHS universality and live-in case law can both be true.
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