Marriage, types of marriage, age at marriage and it's advantages

Marriage : Introduction

Marriage is an essential factor of human life in every society and religion. Marriage is a legal union of male and female to form a  family.   Marriage helps to give continuity of life cycle  of human being on earth. In other words, marriage is legal, biological ,psychological, social, and external relationship between male and female individuals as husband and wife (spouses) that is generally established with a legal, cultural or religious procedure. It is believed that the concept of marriage developed with the development of human civilization and existence of community.

Purposes of Marriage

Marriage means the creation of  a new nuclear family and way of life. Purpose of marriage can be listed as below:

i. To be get children.

ii. To continue dynasty and generation.

iii. To live in harmony and cooperation with a union of two opposite sexes

iv. To form a new family for convenience to fulfill basic needs

v. To satisfy the sex drive in legally and socially accepted way

Forms of marriage:

Every society and religion has different concepts and traditions of marriage. Mainly, there are two forms of marriage found in  various parts of the world. They are monogamy and polygamy.

a) Monogamy

This term is composed of two root words; 'mono' and 'gamy' ,

Mono : one or single

Gamy : union

Thus, etymology of the term suggests its meaning as union  with single spouse. Monogamy is a  form of marriage where there are only two members as married partners at a time. There is no more than one spouse for a single individual. This form of marriage is widely accepted and popular all over the world.

b) Polygamy

This term has two root words. 'Poly' means many and 'gamy' means union. Polygamy is a form of marriage, where there are two or more than two spouses for a single individual. Polygamy may be of two types:

• Multi-husband polygamy (polyandry): It is a form of marriage where a single women has two or more husbands at the same time. This system is still in practice in Mustang district of Nepal.
• Multi-wives polygamy (Polygamy): It is a form of marriage where there are two or more wives of a single man at the same time. It is also rarely found in various places.

Types of Marriage 

There are many types of  marriage in practice in Nepal. Some of them are rarely practiced and some are practiced widely all over the world. They are love marriage arrange marriage , and court marriage.

a) Love marriage 

It is the most popular type of marriage these days . In this type, girl and boy introduce with each other , they are attracted and decide to marry.

b) Arrange marriage 

It is widely accepted and practiced in Nepali society. In this type of marriage, parents of both parties meet each other and take decision about their children's marriage.

c) Court marriage

This is a new concept of marriage. It is fixed as per the existing law of the concerned country. The boy and girl present themselves in front of the concerned authority and are bound themselves as husband and wife according to legal procedure and registration of marriage.

Except the above- mentioned types of marriage,  there  are other types of marriage which are more specific to Nepali society. They originated from Nepali cultural , religious , and social practices.

a) Marriage by giving nut 

It is prevalent in the hilly region of Nepal among some ethnic groups. In this marriage, nut is given to girl's party by the boy's party as a confirmation of marriage.

b) Marriage by request 

It is a type of arranged marriage. In this marriage , the boy's party goes to girl's house and proposes the girl's guardians for their daughter's hand.

c)  Marriage by taking away secretly 

This type of marriage is done by taking the girl secretly away by the boy without any consent of parents and girl.

d) Levirate marriage

In this type of marriage, younger brother gets married with the wife  of elder brother after his death.

e) Widow marriage 

This type of marriage is done between  a man and a married women whose husband has died.

f) Marriage  by performance 

Marriage by performance is done by impressing the girl with an extraordinary performance in dancing, singing, playing, etc.

g) Marriage by paying the fine 

This is a strange type of marriage done  between a man and other's wife . The man pays certain sum of fine  to the previous husband for taking his wife away. 

In some cases, we find marriage influenced by the political activities . Stage marriage is one example which is done in political stages with politically guided vows.

Age at Marriage

Age at marriage denotes the meaning of appropriate age at marriage. Appropriate age at marriage can be determined on few bases as given below:

a) Age at marriage from the point of view of reproductive health

 This is a suitable age of marriage from reproductive point of view. Reproductive power  or fecundity  begins earlier in girls than boys. It starts from the first menstrual phase or menarche in girls and during puberty stage in boys. As soon as they gain fecundity power, they are not capable of producing healthy baby with sound health. A girl should develop various internal strengths to hold the fetus and to create appropriate environment inside her womb to produce a healthy baby. Therefore, attainment of fecundity is not regarded as the time to  become pregnant. From  the reproductive point of view, appropriate age at marriage is 20 years for girls and it is 25 years for boys. Marriage after 35 years of age is not considered suitable for females from the point of view of reproductive health because the inner strength of fetus-bearing capacity declines due to the effects of ageing.

b) Age at marriage  from the point of view of legal provision in Nepal

Civil Code of  Nepal had some discriminative provisions between boys and girls in the past. But recent amendment in the Civil Code has eliminated gender discrimination. Though, there are similar provisions for legal age  at marriage for both the boys and girls, they are made conditional on the basis of parents consent. They are :

For boys and girls both

• With consent of parents : 18 years
• Regardless of consent of parents :20 years

Disadvantages of Early Marriage for Women and Men

Marriage at early age brings several problems in different aspects of family life. If the boy and girl engage in marital relation in their early age, they cannot get enough time and opportunities to develop their carrier. Some of the disadvantages of early marriage are listed below:

1. Less time for education
2. Less time for career building
3. Lack of  competences in facing the family problem
4. Deterioration of reproductive health
5.  Dependency upon others from economic point of view
6. Possibility of high maternal and child death rate
7. Lack of understanding and convincing skills
8. Disputes between couple
9. Chances of large family size

Advantages of Proper Age at marriage

Looking at the above-mentioned disadvantages of early marriage , we can think of many advantages of marriage at proper age. Few of them are listed as below:

• Enough time for education and training
• Develop the income generating skills and power
• Sound mental development
• Easy to maintain  family size
• Less chance of disputes and divorce
• Can develop power to tackle the family problems easily
• Low risk of maternal and child death