Universal definition of marriage : Navar case (Nayars Marriages)
Kathleen Gough (1955) Nayars Marriages studied the Nayars of Kerala. According to her description , the Nayars live in Taravads or large matrilineally extended families. The head of the Taravad is Karanavan. A girl in the Taravad should be married before she comes of age otherwise the Taravad will be excommunicated. For this reason once in every five years , the Karanavan arranges the marriages of the girls between 7 to 12 years , The grooms are usually the cross-cousins of the girls.
Marriage will be celebrated for about 3 to 7 days. This period varies from region to region. The wedding ceremony is called Talikettukalyanam (tying of marriage badge). The boy ties the marriage. badge a round the neck of the girl . Nayars Marriages Afterwards both the couple will be circumambulating sacred fire when the Karanavan tears asunder the clothes joining the couple. This act symbolizes the separation of the couple and the annulment of the exclusive rights of the ritual husband over her.
As per custom, when the girl comes of age , she can have sambandham with boys who belong to Nayars Marriages Nayar caste and Namboodiri Brahmin caste , In this connection those who want to have sambandham with her must fulfill certain formalities:
- They must get formal consent of Karnavan permitting them to have sambandham with the girl
- They must present some silk clothes and certain amount of coconut oil to the girl through Karnavan in order to complete the formalities
High is the prestige of a girl who can have a number of Sambandham husbands . Nayars Marriages The latter visit her during night time. They do not have responsibilities in supporting the girl and in bringing up The children borne by her . When the girl is pregnant , one of the visiting husbands who comes forward to pay delivery expenses to the midwife is considered the father of the child.
In the light of the above facts, Gough emphasizes:
- Marriage among Nayars involves a woman and several men.
- That the legitimacy of children requires at least two fathers of appropriate caste – a ritual father and one or more admitted biological fathers and
- That unless a woman is ritually married to a man of appropriate caste and unless her child’s paternity is vouched for by one or more visiting husbands of appropriate caste, a child cannot enter the caste or descent group -of his or her mother Nayars Marriages
Nayars Marriages Gough considers Talikettu Kalyanam as primary marriage and sambandham as secondary marriage. She says that the woman mourns and observes pollution over the death of her husband connotes that there is no dissolution of the primary marriage.
All these facts influenced Gough to give a definition of marriage as follows:
“Marriage is a relationship between a woman and one or more persons that a child born to the woman under circumstances not prohibited by the rules of the relationships is accorded full birth status rights common to normal members of his society or social stratum’
in simple terms, her definition tells that marriage is a customary transaction that functions to establish the legitimacy of new born children as acceptable members of society Nayars Marriages .
According to Prince Peter of Greece the sambandham is a means by which the matrilineal Nayar caste exists in a patrilineal Namboodiri milieu Nayars Marriages . Namboodiri Brahmins regard Sambhandham as concubinage. Leach says that the notion of fatherhood is lacking in Nayars. Nayar children refer to the Namboodiri man as Achan (Lord). The Namboodiri children use the same term for father. The term used by Nayar children for the husband of their mother is appan, the term which is used for father among Tamils and Kannadigas. Apart from these deficiencies, the definition does not accommodate:
- Polygamy
- Societies like Jamaican Negroes, Kibbutz, onatoa and Turkese where marriage is not at all necessary to have legitimate children and
- societies like Azande and USA where men marrying men exists
(Nayars Marriages)Therefore Gough’s definition of marriage cannot be applied to marriage institutions in all ethnographic situations.