how many forms of marriages were recognized by Dharmashastras?
Answers
Answer:
eight different types of mairrage in Hindu sastra
Dharmasastras were the books written in the ancient period. Mainly during the Vedic age. Dharmasastras mention 8 types of marriages. They were Brahma Vivah, Daiva Vivah, Arsha Vivah, Prajapatya Vivah, Gandharva Vivah, Asura Vivah, Rakshasa Vivah and Paisasha Vivah.
Brahma Vivah : We are following this type of vivah. In this Vivah the bride and bridegroom are from the same caste/Varna. This marriage is done through the process of Kanyadan.
Daiva Vivah : This marriage is not encouraged. As, in this marriage the girl should marry a priest or the god generally we call the girl as "DevaDasi".
Arsha Vivah : This marriage is encouraged to certain extents. As, in this marriage the boy himself give gifts to family of girl if they are poor.
Prajapatya Vivah : This marriage is similar to Brahma Vivah. But here we don't see the Kanyadan but we can see the Panigrahan. The process of making the girl to study Veda is Panigrahan.
Gandharva Vivah : This marriage is the mostly interested in now a days. This marriage is the love marriage. Boy and girl marry with their will.
Asura Vivah : We saw in Arsha Vivah that the groom gives gifts to bride family. But in this marriage the bride gives gifts to the family. This is also not encouraged today.
Rakshasa Vivah : In the name itself we can say that this is a cruel marriage. As, in this marriage if bride likes groom then the groom's family marry them against the will of bride's family.
Paisasha Vivah : This is the most cruel marriage. As, in this marriage the boy marries a girl against her will by using toxicants or drugs. We generally see this in movies.