Shifting Paradigms of Mate Selection in Hindu Marriage: A Socio-Statistical Study of Preferences and Aims through Weighted Average Analysis

Abstract

Marriage has been an important and universal social institution and it is through the process of mate selection that marriage comes into being. Hence, mate selection constitutes an indispensable part of marriage. Being a cultural-universal, marriage as a social institution is known to be present in all cultures in various forms. People choose mates depending upon different criteria. Marriage among Hindus is considered a religious sacrament but with the increasing effects of modernization and globalization, the sacrosanctness of Hindu marriage has changed. In this research, an effort has been made to provide a detailed account of the changing patterns of mate selection in Hindu marriages in general while emphasizing the preferences of mate selection and the aims of Hindu marriage in particular. In this regard, responses of older generation respondents have also been taken into consideration to have an enhanced understanding of the inter-generational variability and changes.