Hindu Marriage Law: Concept of Exogamy in Hindu Law

Exogamy is a custom or practice of marrying a person only from outside one’s tribe or similar unit. The concept of exogamy gained more significance after the Christian era. The rule of exogamy is especially rigid among the Hindus, particularly the Brahmins. As per the rule of exogamy, a person shall never marry someone belonging to same gotra or clan or lineage.

Hindu Marriage Law: Purpose of Exogamy is to Prevent Incestous Relationships

The persons from the same gotra are believed to have descended from same common ancestor and therefore, considered to share the same lineage. As per ancient philosophy pertaining to Indian marriage, there were only eight gotras originally. However, many new gotras came into existence with the passage of time.  The concept of exogamy was introduced to prevent development of incestuous relationships in Hindu families and to avoid suspicion on the character of a female member of a family.

The Sagotra or same gotra marriages are prohibited as per rules laid down in one of the three most important Smritis of Hindu philosophy namely, the Smriti of Yajnavalkya. This, as its name suggests, was written by the revered sage Yajnavalkya.

Hindu Marriage Law: Sagotra Marriages are Legally Valid

The traditional Hindu law on exogamy has been replaced by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Section 5, of the Act, does not specify the requirement of non-Sagotra marriage as a mandatory condition for a marriage to be valid. What does this mean? Simply put, it means that Hindu marriage law considers sagotra marriages as legally valid.

This can be better explained by the following example. Suppose a Hindu boy of Bharadwaj gotra, whose family has been settled in Mumbai for years, wants to marry a girl, who is of same gotra i.e. Bhardwaj gotra and whose family has been resident in Gujarat for years. There is no justified reason to consider their marriage invalid under prevailing Hindu marriage law.