Contentious Marriages, Eloping Couples Gender, Caste and Patriarchy in Northern India

by Chowdhry, Prem

• ISBN13: 9780195684995
• ISBN10: 0195684990
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-03-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This book deals with the widespread phenomenon of contentious marriages and elopements in the north Indian state of Haryana. It focuses on the role of caste panchayats which curbs individual rights in the name of maintaining izzat (honour), bhaichara (brotherhood), biradri (community), and village aika (unity). It also unravels how state agencies abet the workings of the panchayat.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Arranging Marriages: Ideology of Guardianship	p. 2
Popular Culture	p. 6
Containing Challenges	p. 10
Caste, Community, and Honour	p. 14
Crimes of Honour: Wider Spread	p. 20
Colonial and Post-Colonial Continuities and Breaks	p. 23
Colonial Period: Creeping Rigidity	p. 29
Marriage Norms and Ideology: Traditional Panchayats and Colonial Courts	p. 32
Reigning Ideology: Female Guardianship	p. 39
Inter-Caste Marriages: Karewa and Hierarchy	p. 46
The Colonial Position: Reservations and Flexibility	p. 51
Challenging Existing Patterns: Wider Concerns of Political Economy	p. 55
Case Studies: Unequal Matches	p. 60
Wife or Concubine: Cohabitation as Karewa	p. 65
Polygamy: Status of Non-Caste Wife and Her Children	p. 69
Popular Culture: Accommodating Ambivalence	p. 73
Karewa as Levirate: Contentious Remarriage of Widows	p. 80
Societal Flux and Its Effects	p. 90
Post-Colonial Haryana: Caste Endogamy and Traditional Panchayats	p. 92
Law, Custom, and Traditional Panchayats	p. 92
The Working of Traditional Panchayats	p. 96
Dictating Relationships: The Case of Village Jondhi	p. 100
Status Complexities: Resolving Claims	p. 108
Revision of Decision: Shifting Concepts	p. 118
Selective Application: Bhaichara and the Category of Incest	p. 123
Class, Status, and the Urban Connection	p. 127
Challenges: Recourse to Law	p. 134
Inter-Caste Marriages: Defying Cultural Norms	p. 139
Loharhedi Cases: A Study in Contrast	p. 140
Involvement of the Community and the Family	p. 158
Inter-Community Cases: The Predominance of Customary Norms	p. 163
Inter-Caste Marriages: Private Approval, Societal Disapproval	p. 168
Cases of Runaway Marriage: State Intervention	p. 173
Flexibility in Legal Position: The Crucial Age Factor and the Consent of the Guardian	p. 175
Sexual Intercourse and Marriage: Licit and Illicit	p. 178
Claims of Marriage: Presumptions of the Court	p. 183
Legal Ambiguities: Confirmation and Departure	p. 188
Retrieved Woman: The Aftermath	p. 196
State Intervention: Legitimizing and Criminalizing	p. 198
Ideological Convergence	p. 202
Controlling Remarriage: Post-Colonial Strengthening of the Levirate	p. 204
Karewa: Widow Remarriage, Levirate, and Punar Vivah	p. 205
The Strengthening of Levirate: Widow Inheritance	p. 207
Remarrying the Widow: Financial Attractions	p. 211
Confrontation and Resistance: Case Studies	p. 214
Acceptance of Levirate: How Popular is 'Popular Sanction'?	p. 222
Understanding Local Perceptions: Caste Stereotypes and Cultural Explanations	p. 225
Hold of Caste Stereotypes: Cultural Explanations	p. 225
Hidden Voices: Public and Private Faces	p. 234
Perceived Threat: Challenging Social Order	p. 244
Social Factors: Political Economy of Contentious Marriages	p. 250
Marriage Market: Constricting Factors	p. 251
Panchayat's Intervention: Strength, Motivation, and Vested Interests	p. 263
Marginalization of the Panchayat: The Traditional Leadership	p. 266
Quasi-Urbanization: Weakening of Traditional Bonds and Controls	p. 272
Consumerism: Changing Lifestyles	p. 276
Cultural and Social Insecurities: Generation and Gender Gap	p. 283
Asserting Masculinity: The Marginalized	p. 289
Epilogue: Complexities and Concerns	p. 296
Glossary	p. 310
Bibliography	p. 315
Index	p. 329
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