Wedding:

Marriage is the approved social pattern by which two or more people establish a family. It implies not only the right to conceive and raise children, but also a series of other obligations and privileges that affect many people.

The real meaning of marriage is the acceptance of a new status, with a new set of privileges and obligations, and the recognition of this new status by others. A legal marriage legitimizes a social status and creates a set of legally recognized rights and duties.

Marriage is one of the oldest socially recognized institutions and fundamental for the procreation of children and the satisfaction of our sexual impulses. In different societies there are different methods of marriage. Some of the societies allow a man to marry only one woman, while in other societies a husband can have more than one wife. Similarly, some societies will not allow a woman to have more than one husband, while other societies will not care if a woman has more than one husband. In some cases, the parents arrange the marriage, while in others, the boys and girls arrange their marriage.

Definition of marriage: Marriage is a term for the social relations of husband and wife or plural couples. It is also used for the union ceremony of the spouses.

Selection of couple:

It refers to the search for a spouse by the man and the woman. There are two methods given as:

1. Exogamy: When a person marries outside of their group, caste, religion, class or race. It is attributed as exogamy. In modern times, this marriage is mainly practiced.
2. Inbreeding: When a person marries within their group, caste, religion, class or race. It is known as inbreeding. This type of marriage is mainly practiced in rural areas of Pakistan, Afghanistan.

marriage form

Different societies have different views on the social recognition and approval of marriage. That is the reason why we find different marriages. The main types of marriage are given below:

1. Monogamy: A person can marry once.
2. Polygamy: The person (man or woman) can marry more than once.
3. Polygyny: A husband is allowed to have more than one wife at the same time.
4. Polyandry: A woman marries more than one man at a time.
5. Fraternal Polyandry: When a woman is considered and treated as the wife of all the brothers living in the family and the offspring is considered as the son/daughter of the older brother.
6. Non-fraternal polyandry: In this way, it is assumed that a woman has more than one husband.
7. Group marriage: Brothers are required to marry sisters who live together.
8. experimental marriage: In such a marriage, the couple should be allowed to meet and mix and meet freely to understand each other before marriage.
9. Intercaste marriage: A man marries a woman in a caste. Like in India.
10. anuloma: When higher caste men are allowed to marry lower caste women, it is called an anuloma.
11. Pratiloma: When women from the upper castes marry men from the lower castes they are called Pratiloma.
12. Hypergamy and Hypogamy: A man belonging to the nobility is allowed to marry a woman of a lower social status is called hypergamy. But when a woman of higher social status marries a man of lower social status she is called Hypogamy.
13. Sororian marriage: If the wife is dead. After death, the husband marries the sister of this deceased wife.
14. Levirate marriage: When the husband died. After her death, the wife marries her late husband’s brother.
15. Runaway marriage: If a boy and a girl run away and get married against the choice of their parents. They marry at court or elsewhere.
16. compassionate marriage: Dissolution of marriage by mutual consent, for not having children.
17. Arranged marriage: Marriage, which is arranged with the consent of the parents of both sides.
18. I love marriage: The system under which young people themselves choose their life partners is called love marriage.
19. Swara Marriage: It is a common marriage in Pukhtoon society.

functions of marriage

1. Social recognition: Marriage gives social recognition to all sexual relationships, which would otherwise have many social problems. Marriage alone makes society accept the relationship of boy and girl, as husband and wife.
2. Procreation of children: Then another function of marriage is to have legitimate children; The children born as a result of the socially recognized marriage are accepted by society as legitimate and legal heirs to the assets and other assets of the family.
3. Sense of sympathy: After marriage alone, the husband and wife and their children develop a sense of sympathy for each other and begin to share each other’s joys and sorrows. They sacrifice themselves for the good of others.
4. Family Basis: Then another function of marriage is that it is the basis of family life. As we all know, after marriage the family arises and with it the virtues of all family life emerge in society.
5. Stability in the relationship: After marriage single relationships arise, for example, the relationship of husband and wife, son or daughter, father-in-law and mother-in-law or that of grandfather and grandmother, etc. these relationships stabilize over time but only after marriage but not before marriage.
6. Perpetuation of the lineage: It is after marriage that there is a desire to perpetuate the family name. The children perpetuate the names of their parents and then come the grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. After some time, there is a desire to perpetuate the family lineage and if at any stage in the family there are no offspring then every effort is made to continue the family name.

In this way, each family has very important and basic functions to perform. Without these features, our entire social system would fail and lead to many social problems. So marriage alone has helped maintain high moral standards of which any society can truly be proud.