A study on the conditions of inter caste marriages in the social system of the colonial period in India

Abstract

This study looks at the legislation, reformist movements, and common social norms that surrounded inter caste marriages in colonial India during the late 18th and mid-20th centuries. This study examines how British legal policies permitted and prohibited caste-based marriages by drawing on missionary archives, social and religious reform literature, colonial legal papers, and secondary history. The Special Marriage Act of 1872 and other civil marriage rules are given special emphasis since they increased community authority in many locations while also establishing official processes for partnerships outside of traditional Hindu or Muslim personal laws. It draws attention to the dichotomy of colonial conflict, new possibilities for personal preference, urbanization, Western education, reformist activism, missionary influence, and robust societal structures that safeguarded caste-based marriages. Caste groups, village panchayats, and family councils enforced prohibitions that ranged from violence and financial fines to religious exclusion. Wide variations are revealed by regional case studies, which examine elements that offer comparatively higher accessibility in contrast to urban and rural.