Marriages Of ‘Inconvenience’ Choices In Inter-Faith Unions: A Challenge In Contemporary India

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.