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contract, but a sacred and divine institution as well. The husband receives
his wife from the gods; he does not wed according to his own will. It is a
religious necessity for a Hindu to marry, and, as a rule, it is proposed as
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compulsory for all. According to Manu the purpose of creation consists in
the procreation of children: women were created to be mothers, and men to
be fathers. The primary aim of marriage is the procreation of children. But
marriage has several other purposes that are equally important: religious
rites, faithful service, highest conjugal happiness, and heavenly bliss for the
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ancestors and for oneself.

The sacredness of marriage in Hinduism can be seen from the fact
that the very gods are married. When the Hindu descends from the adoration
of the Absolute and takes to the worship of a personal god, his god always
has a consort. He does not worship a bachelor or a virgin. The typical Hindu
view of marriage has been well expressed by famous Indian philosopher and
former president of India, S. Radhakrishnan in the following words: “There
is nothing unwholesome or guilty about the sex life. Through the institution
of marriage it is made the basis of intellectual and moral intimacies.
Marriage is not so much a concession to human weakness as a means of
spiritual growth. It is prescribed for the sake of the development of
personality as well as the continuance of the family ideal. Marriage has this
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social side”.
In Hinduism the practice of monogamy is extolled. In an ideal
marriage the genuine interests of the two members are perfectly reconciled.
The perfectly ethical marriage is the monogamous one. The Hindu sacred
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books seem to stress the indissoluble nature of marriage. In the Hindu
scriptures the life of an individual is conceived of as divided into four

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Manu, called the law giver, is the supposed author of a famous code of Hindu law and
jurisprudence. He probably belonged to the kshattriya or princely caste and was the
compiler of legal doctrines long antecedent to him, the name Manu having been affixed to
the code in order to honour its sanctity and strengthen its authority. The Code of Manu is
known variously as the Manu-Smriti, the Mānava dharmasāstra, or the Manu-samhita.
Book III of Manu’s Code describes the life of the second of the Asramas, the Grihāstha or
house holder, with reference to his marriage, daily rites, and funeral offerings. Book IX
relates to domestic law, rules governing women, husband, and marriage; parents and
children, inheritance.
25 Cf. FOWLER, J., Hinduism: Beliefs, Practices and Scriptures, Adarsh Books, New
Delhi, 2000, pp. 51-53.
26 RADAKRISHNAN, S., The Hindu view of Life, Allen and Unwin, London, 1927,
(Reprint 1960), p. 60.
27 Cf. BOEKER, J., “Marriage and Divorce” in The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions,
Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997, p. 621.

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