Mareile Dorothee Hankeln

India's Marriages Re-Arranged Mareile Dorothee Hankeln

Imagine you meet the person you will spend the rest of your life with on your wedding day! This book deals with Indian arranged marriages and investigates whether globalisation processes affect the Indian marriage market. It focuses on the aspiring Indian urban middle class which is exposed to the Western way of life to the greatest extent due to its high level of education, mobility, and way of life. Do these young modern Indians still cling to traditional marriage patterns? As only little investigation has been done in this field so far, this study gives an overview of the current state of research and delves deeper into Indian culture in order to understand the Indian way of entering marriage. The meaning of marriage in both the Western and the Indian context is compared in order to approach the topic from different angles. Conclusions are drawn from literary sources as well as interviews with experts from India. The findings reveal that the system of arranged marriages is robust towards forces of globalisation. Even today, the majority of Indians find their life partner by having their marriage arranged. However, marriage patterns have been re-arranged in the modern age.
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