On Friday, 1st July, Switzerland became the 31st country to legalize same-sex marriage as 64% of voters approved the "Marriage for All" initiative in all 26 cantons in the country, making Switzerland one of the last countries in Western Europe to legalize same-sex marriages.?
Such unions are still not common as the traditional idea of marriage is deeply entrenched in our manifestations. An uproar was also created earlier in June, when 24-year-old Kshama Bindu from Vadodara married herself in an act of Sologamy, with all due rituals and ceremonies.
Marriage is embedded in our society and while there have been continual attempts to reform the ancient practice in some unconventional ways, there seems to be much more than the established idea of the universally accepted heterosexual marriage.?
Every now and then a new word enters our vocabulary pertaining to marriage and considering the vast possibilities of human endeavors and its constantly evolving dictations for self, the list seems to be endless. The types of marriages can be based on the relationship of the individuals, the nature of the marriage, and the purpose it is serving.
Almost all religions lay the guidelines for marriages, and while many choose to abide by them religiously often people dismiss them according to their own convenience. In India, marriages have long been based on the idea of caste and faith and have been dictated by Marriage acts like the Hindu Marriage Act, 1971. Such marriages are duly acknowledged by the religion as well as the law and are referred to as religious marriages.
The Special Marriages Act, 1971 provides legal status to Interfaith or marriages beyond the boundaries of faith. Such marriages often entail individuals who abide by different faiths, various religions have various conditions for such marriages to be legitimized.?
Marriages are also based on the practices of certain tribes, races, and communities. A Mixed marriage or interracial marriage is a practice that involves an association between different tribes, races, or communities even within the same religion.
Civil marriage is the most accepted form of marriage as it is recognized by the state and the law. A religious marriage also needs legal validation and thus generally employs a combination of state and faith. Marriages, where the couple enters into married life without registration, is called Common Law Marriage.
Some marriages are based on a contract that specifies conditions and is legally verified these marriages are called Contractual Marriages, some of them are also time-bound where the marriage terminates after a specified period such unions are called Time-Bound Marriages.
A heterosexual marriage or straight marriage is the arrangement where the corresponding partners belong to the opposite sex while homosexual or gay marriage involves the partners belonging to the same sex.
Sologamy as the name suggests is the marriage to oneself, Monogamy, on the other hand, is the simplest form of marriage where a person solely entertains in emotional and sexual relations with their partner. Polygamy is a practice where a person forms marital relations with more than one person it is different from a Group Marriage where a no. of people are married to another no. of people.
A marriage where the couple is brought into the union through an arrangement formed by the couple’s family or relatives is called an Arranged Marriage. A marriage that is based on a couple in love arranging things for themselves is called love marriage.?
Marriages are deemed as shotgun marriages when the couple decides to get married due to an unplanned pregnancy it is different from Parenting marriages where the couple undergoes a lot of differences and remains together for the sake of their children. A Secret marriage is when the couple conceals their association from others whereas an Open marriage is a marriage agreement where the couple is allowed to see people outside the union but cannot marry them. A Zombie marriage is another form of convenience where the couple acts as a married one for the rest of the world but does not form any relationship in person. A marriage of convenience can take various forms such as the ones that are formed for citizenship to seek accommodation, jobs, or other material reasons.
Such vast categorization of marriages reiterates the line from the popular Indian Web Series Made In Heaven (2019), where Shashank Arora says, “They say marriages are made in Heaven but on the ground, the reality is slightly different.”
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