Abstract:
Traditionally, the discourse on marriages of choice or ‘inconvenient’ marriages in India
have largely remained confined to the issues of inter-caste marriages. Very little
scholarly attention has been paid to the narratives of interfaith or inter-religious
marriages in India- the struggles of couples who make these inconvenient choices, and
the social outcome of these struggles. My dissertation aims to address this crucial gap
in policy and sociological studies. The central aim of my work is to bring out the
complex duality and interplay between the formal and informal structures of society
and the agency of individuals in choosing partners of their own. I question, in what
ways do the social and legal institutions in India abet or foster these tensions? In what
circumstances do individuals make these ‘inconvenient’ choices? Finally, how does
society react to these marital choices? In doing so, I have divided my dissertation into
three parts between social, legal and policy questions.
In the social question, interfaith marriage is seen through the lens of structureagency dialectic followed by deeper probe into violence and its anatomy and
intersectionalities that affect this dialectic. In the legal question, the responses of
personal laws and civil laws are explored through a doctrinal research. In the final part
of the policy question, I bring recommendations that should take into account the
positive consequences of the struggles of interfaith unions- the abilities of individuals
to affect social change.
