Changing Forms of Marriage in Colonial UP

Abstract

Abstract

Arranged marriage has been an integral part of Indian society for ages. However, its form to a certain extent has changed in the colonial period with the associated changes and reforms in marriage-related practices. This paper seeks to highlight the changes in the institution of marriage among the middle-class Hindu population of United Provinces (henceforth UP). While doing so, it argues that during the period of the early twentieth-century marriage as a social and cultural institution no longer remained simply a private or familial affair in UP, but discussed on public platforms immensely. It got inextricably linked to Hindu community identity assertions. Every aspect of marriage was scrutinized and institutionalized into a new practice. Changing caste and community consciousness among the middle-class Hindu population led to marked modifications in marriage negotiations and cultural festivities. This paper also investigates the inequities that the transformations in the institution of marriage gave rise to and argues that these changes further pushed Hindu women under new patriarchal control.