From Pandit Ji To Online Matrimony

Changing Trends of Matrimony in India

It might sound peculiar now that during the time of our Dada jis and Dadi jis, both the bride and the groom saw each other during the wedding day or the day after that.
But this truth prevailed during that time.

In those days, both the families took the decision without the consent of the prospective bride and groom.

The respected families met each other, the girl’s side met the groom and the boy’s side met the bride and made the decision. At times, during the very young age of the girl and the boy, parents took a decision of marriage of their children. And when they grew up, they got them married. In such a marriage, parent of the both the families just used to wait for the girl to complete her education and the boy to settle down career-wise, and after that got them married. There was no courtship, no time to know each other. It was more like a blind-marriage quite contrasting to the kind of marriages taking place these days.

In fact, it was just a step ahead of child-marriages where it was decided to get the girl and the boy married during their childhood. At times, girls were even forced to get married to men who were of their father’s age. This raised a lot of issued in Indian society as it led to social-evils like child-widows, female infanticide, sati during childhood etc. People were scared of giving birth to a female child as they thought that they would social and financial burden on them.

Then came a time of our mothers and fathers, by that time matrimonial in India started making sense to a lot of people. It was more of an arranged marriage thing where at times the parents used to introduce the bride and the groom to each other or at times they were made to meet each other before marriage. Slowly and steadily courtship was also becoming acceptable and parents realized that it was important for both the bride and the groom to know each other. Either a pandit ji used to get a rishta (a match) for the prospective brides and grooms or some relative used to take the pain and initiative of getting their nephews or nieces marry. But during this time as well, it was only a selected part of the society that accepted the meeting of the girl and the boy before the marriage.

Now, we can’t say the same thing. Matrimony has transformed tremendously in India. From the Pandit Jis getting the marriages fixed, these days both the girl and boy either opt for a love marriage or would take indulge into an arranged marriage where their choice is completely involved. In fact, nowadays both of them prefer meeting each other quite often before marriage. They think courtship period is the best time to know each other, which is true to some extent.

The younger generation in India is conscious of their future and marriage. So, if there is no one they are in love with, they themselves take the initiative of indulging into an arranged marriage. They make profiles in all the online matrimonial sites or give their ads in newspapers. If they have to get married, it should be the best for them – that’s what they feel. These days, girls are equally independent as boys, so they prefer not to compromise on small things.

The trend these days in an arranged marriage is that parents or the girls or boys themselves scan a lot of eligible profiles on a matrimonial site and zero down to the most prospective ones. After a lot of communication between the two parties involved, parents/children zero down to the most suitable match. Then they match things like family, educational, financial, social and communal backgrounds. If the criteria match, the step of meeting takes place where the parties involved finally decide whether the two are made for each other or not.

The trends have definitely changed but how successful they are is still a question. No matter, how much the bride and the groom try to know each other before the marriage, what actually matters is the kind of compatibility they share after it.

Sukhpreet Kaur writes on behalf of Jeevansathi.com, which is India’s fastest growing matrimonial website, provides online Indian matrimonial classified services. Jeevansathi.com enables users to create a online matrimony profile on the website and allow prospective grooms and brides to contact each other. Users can search for profiles through advanced search options on the website. Users can avail free registration and make initial contact with each other through services available on Jeevansathi.com via Chat, SMS, and e-mail.