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The Law of Marriage Comparative study of Jews Marriage and Hindu Marriage

The Law of Marriage Comparative study of Jews Marriage and Hindu Marriage The Old Testament is the first part of the Holy Bible. Together with the New Testament, it forms the scripture that are sacred to Christians. Jews accept only the old Testament emphasizing the idea of covenant between God and His people, and contains a record of their history to show how faithfully they observed this covenant. As a cultural treasure, the Old Testament is one of the most important source we have for knowledge of the past. Jews divide the Old Testament into three main sections called THE LAW, THE PROPHET and THE WRITINGS. 'THE LAW' consists of the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deutronomy and in this section, we can find rules of marriages and inheritance writing in a disorganised manner. Marriage is the state in which men and women can live together in sexual relationship with the approval of their social group. Adultery and fornication are sexual relationships that society does not recognize as constituting marriage. This definition is necessary to show that in the Old Testament, polygamy is not sexually immoral, since it constitutes a recognized married state; though it is generally shown to be inexpedient. Marriage is regarded as normal, and there is no word for 'bachelor' in the Old Testament. The record of the creation of Eve1 indicates the unique relationship of husband and wife, and serves as a picture of the relationship between God and his people. Monogamy was explicit in the story of Adam and Eve, since God created only one wife for Adam. Yet polygamy was adopted from the time of Lamech2 and is not forbidden in Scripture. It is difficult to know how far polygamy was practised, but on economic grounds it is probable that it was found more among the well-to-do than among the ordinary people. Herod the Great had nine wives at one time. Since children were important to carry on the family name, a childless wife might allow her husband to have children by her slave. This was legal in Old Testament. It was practised by Abraham and Sarah and even by Rachel and Jacob.3 The wife gives her maid to her husband on special ocassions. It is difficult to give a name to the status of the maid in such relationship. She is secondary rather than a second wife, though if the husband continued to have relations with her, she would have the position of a concubine. RULES OF ACQUIRING WIVES FOR PRIEST: Priest are holy to their God so they must keep themselves pure and clean in all respects. According to the book of Leviticus chapter 21:- (a) They must not marry women defiled by prostitution. (b) They must not marry a divorced woman. (c) They must marry a virgin woman. (e) They must marry his own people so that they may not defile thier offspring among thier people. THE IMPORTANCE OF VIRGINITY FOR MARRIAGE: In the book of Duetronomy chapter 22, a rules or laws of incurring fine to a husband for wrongly bringing bad name to a wife is recorded. It says "If a man takes a wife and, after lying with her, dislikes her and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, "I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity," then the girl's father and mother shall bring proof that she was a virgin to the town elders at the gate. The girl's father will say to the elders, "I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he dislikes her. Now he has slandered her and said, `I did not find your daughter to be a virgin.' But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity." Then her parents shall display the cloth before the elders of the town, and the elders shall take the man and punish him. They shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the girl's father, because this man has given an Israelite virgin a bad name. She shall continue to be his wife; he must not divorce her as long as he lives. But if, however, the charge is true and no proof of the girl's virginity can be found, she shall be brought to the door of her father's house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father's house. You must purge the evil from among you. According to the Old Testament, marriage is instituted by God1; and it was divinely decreed that man should be "fruitful and multiply". Marriage is therefore a sacred institution and marital fidelity a divine covenant, or a covenant of God (Prov. 2:17) (Malachi 2:14). The Bible did not object the practice of polygamy. The Jews in the Old Testament were to observe endogamy very strickly. Tribe exogamy was regarded as breaking the covenant made between God and themselves. More they wanted to preserve their identity as God’s chosen people. Further, If their women marry out side their tribe, then their ancestral properties will be added into the inmarrying tribe. So the first marital preference according to the Jews tradition is cross-cousin marriage. Second preference is within ones clan and finally, within their people or tribe. Biblical law prohibits 17 kinds of marriages because of consanguinity; However, an uncle may marry a niece, and cousins may marry each other. Originally a bride was acquired (literally bought) from her father. Eventually the marriage contract (ketubah) was evolved. The contract committed the husband to pay a dowry (called mohar in the Bible) to his wife in case he divorced her; if he were to die, the mohar would be paid from his estate. The marriage customs of the Old Testament centre in the two events namely Betrothal (engagement) and Wedding. BETROTHAL: The Old Testament Law did not legislate for broken betrothals. The betrothal included the following steps: (i). Choice of a spouse: Usually the parents of a young man chose his wife and arranged for the marriage, as Hagar did for Ishmael2 and Judah for Er3. Sometimes the young man did the choosing, and his parents the negotiating, as in the case of Shechem4 and Samson (Jdg 14:2). Occasionally the girl's parents chose a likely man to be her husband as did Naomi and Saul. (ii). Exchange of gifts: Three types of Exchange of gifts are associated with betrothel. Firstly, the Mohar (dowry). It was for Dinah (Ge.34:12); for a seduced maiden (Exodus 22:17); the seven years service perform by Jacob for Rachel; Moses keeping of the sheep for his father-in-law may be interpreted in the same way . This was a compensation gift from the bridegroom to the family of the bride, and it sealed the covenant and bound the two families together. Some scholar have considered the mohar to be the price of the bride, but a wife was not bought like a slave. Secondly, The dowry: This was a gift to the bride or the groom from her father sometimes consisting of servants (Ge.24:59, 61 to Rebekah: ) or land (Jdg1:15 to Achsah:) or other property. Thirdly, The bridegroom's gift to the bride was sometimes jewellery and clothes, as those brought to Rebekah (Gn. 24: 53). In this system, Father's sister daughter is the preferencial marriage. In the book of Numbers chapter 36; a story of five daughters who were given into marriage with their cousins on thier father's side was clearly recorded. Zelophehad's daughters--Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah and Noah--married their cousins on their father's side. [12] They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in their father's clan and tribe When a married man died without a child his brother was expected to take his wife. Children of their marriage was counted as the children of the first husband. The custom is assumed in the story of Onan in Ge. 38:8-10. Onan took his brother's wife, but refused to have a child by her, because 'the seed should not be his' (v.9) and his children would not have the primary inheritance. The book of Ruth shows that the custom extended farther than the husband's brother. Here an unnamed kinsman has the primary duty, and only when he refuses does Boaz marry Ruth. The levirate law did not apply if daughters had been born, and regulations for the inheritance of daughters are to the daughters of Zelophehad in Nu.27:1-11. Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of the people's hearts. This means that Moses did not command divorce, but regulated an existing practice, and the form of the law in Dt. 24:1-4 is best understood in this sense. The grounds of divorce here are referred to in such general terms that no precise interpretation can be given. If the husband finds 'some uncleanliness' in his wife, she can be divorced. There are two situations in which divorce is forbidden; when a man has falsely accused his wife of pre-marital unfaithfulness (Dt. 22:13-19); and when a man has had relations with a girl, and her father has compelled him to marry her (Dt. 22:28-29;) If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins. (Ex. 22:16-17). On some exceptional occasions divorce was insisted on. These were when the return exiles had married pagan wives (Ezra. 9-10) although divorce is implied here, rather than stated. (1) INHERITANCE TO THE DAUGHTER IN CASE OF NO SON. Five daughters of different Fathers came to Moses with a plea for giving them the rightship of inhereting their fathers' properties. They said "Our father died in the desert........and left no sons. Why should our father's name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father's relatives." So Moses brought their case before the LORD and the LORD said to him, "What Zelophehad's daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father's relatives and turn their father's inheritance over to them. "Say to the Israelites, `If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter (first preference) and If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers (second preference). If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father's brothers (third preference). If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it (last preference). "NU 27:1-11. (2). NO INHERETANCE ALLOWED TO PASS FROM TRIBE TO TRIBE: According to Numbers 36:1-12, the family heads of the clan of Gilead son of Makir, the son of Manasseh,….came and spoke before Moses and the leaders, the heads of the Israelite families. They said, "When the LORD commanded my lord to give the land as an inheritance to the Israelites by lot, he ordered you to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters. Now suppose they marry men from other Israelite tribes; then their inheritance will be taken from our ancestral inheritance and added to that of the tribe they marry into. And so part of the inheritance allotted to us will be taken away. When the Year of Jubilee for the Israelites comes, their inheritance will be added to that of the tribe into which they marry, and their property will be taken from the tribal inheritance of our forefathers." Then at the LORD's command Moses gave this order to the Israelites: "What the tribe of the descendants of Joseph is saying is right…No inheritance in Israel is to pass from tribe to tribe, for every Israelite shall keep the tribal land inherited from his forefathers. Every daughter who inherits land in any Israelite tribe must marry someone in her father's tribal clan, so that every Israelite will possess the inheritance of his fathers. No inheritance may pass from tribe to tribe, for each Israelite tribe is to keep the land it inherits." …They married within the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in their father's clan and tribe If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father's strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him (Duetronomy 21:15-17). (4). NO INHERITANCE FOR SON BORN OF ANOTHER WOMAN: According to Judges 11:1-3, Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior and his mother was a prostitute. Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman." So Jephthah fled from his brothers. COMPARISON OF HINDU MARRIAGE WITH THE JEW S' MARRIAGE The problem of a satisfactory definition of marriage has vexed anthropologists for decades and has been raised, but not solved, several times in recent years. Over time it became clear that cohabitation, ritual recognition, definition of sexual rights or stipulation of domestic services each had too limited a distribution to serve as a criterion for all the unions anthropologists intuitively felt compelled to call 'marriage'. For good reason therefore the 'Notes and Queries' definition of 1951 makes no reference to any of these: 'Marriage is a union between a man and a woman such that children born to the woman are recognized offspring of both parents'1. This definition holds true with the way of marriage in Old Testament. But there is a basic difference in the objective of establishing a marriage between man and a woman. According to the Old Testament, marriage is instituted by God2; and it was divinely decreed that man should be "fruitful and multiply"3. Marriage is therefore a sacred institution and marital fidelity a divine covenant, or a covenant of God. In Hindu society, marriage is regarded as a ritual act without which he/she cannot enter the Grihastha Asrama (stage of a house holder) the second of the four stages of life (asrama) ordained by the holy law-givers. Besides, without marriage there can be no offspring, and without a son no release from the chain of birth-death-rebirth. Marriage has been alos designated as one of those body-sanctifying rituals which every Hindu has to perform. Thus, religious sanction behind the Hindu conception of marriage is so obvious. Leach had stated that the Nayars of central Kerala traditionally had no marriage in the strict sense of the term but only a “relationship of pertetual affinity" between linked lineage. The woman's children, however they might be begotten, were simply recruited to the woman's own matrilineage'. The notion of fatherhood is lacking. A somehow similar type of marriage is recorded in the book of Judges chapter 14 in Old Testament. Samson a young Israelite, went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife." His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me." Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her. Now his father went down to see the woman. And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms. When he appeared, he was given thirty companions. This kind of marriage was not acceptable among the Israelites. Even in Hindu marriage, it is the bride's family who search for a suitable groom. But according to the Israelites' culture, it is the groom who search for the bride, usually with the consent of their parents. EIGHT FORM OF LEGITIMATE HINDU MARRIAGE: Manu talks of eight type of legitimate Hindu marriage. They are as follows- BRAHMA VIVAHA AND PRAJAPATYA VIVAHA The first two types of marriage viz, Brahma vivaha and Prajapatya vivaha are the most ideal type of Hindu marriage mainly practice by brahmin. It is a sacred marriage which stand opposite to the exchange or contract form of marriage which is prevalent today. In Brahma Vivaha, the father of the a maiden should choose a person who possesses good qualities like good family, good character, scholarship in Vedas, and should invite him to accept the hand of a maiden in marriage. In Prajapatya form of marriage, the groom solicits her hand whereas in Brahma Vivaha, the bride’s father offered to him her hand. So it is the father of the maiden who takes the initiative. We cannot find an elaborated account of priestly marriage or rule of sacred marriage in Old Testament. But in the book of Leviticus chapter 21, a law where a priest must marry a maiden like in Brahma Vivaha, is written. LEV 21:13-15 " `The woman he marries must be a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, so he will not defile his offspring among his people. I am the LORD, who makes him holy.” So like in Hindu marriage where the marriage of the Brahmins are the highest and the most Ideal, the marriage of the Priest in the Old Testament is the purest and the most ideal form of marriage which cannot be practised or follow by all common people. Daiva vivaha and Arsha vivaha are ideal type of marriage for those Brahmins or Sanyasis whose marriageable age is overed during their Brahma charya Ashram. Manu says that Daiva is a kind of marriage where the king offers a ritual sacrifice through a priest and the king is obligated to give dakshina to the officiating priest. In such occasion, Manu says sometimes the priest demand for king's daughter and the king has to give voluntarily or involuntarily his daughter as a bride to the priest. Arsha vivaha is a sort of contract marriage. Here, the Rishi gives a cow or a bull to the girl’s family whom he wanted to marry. Since he is above the marriageable age ie, above 50 years old, sometimes the girl refuses. In such case the girl’s family must in return give gift to the Rishi and resolve the matter in a soft and a good way. Such marriage can be termed as Daiva vivaha according to Manu. In Old Testament such marriage is not recorded. Asura vivaha or marriage by purchase is the most common marriage in India. Manu, Apastamba and Baudhayana condemned such marriage saying that acceptance of a gift and the right to sell a girl are not allowed. Apastamba mentions that the price of the bride was hundred cows along with a chariot. Apa. Dh.S. (II.5.12.1) says that the suitor has to according to his ability. Manu says that suitor has to pay as much as he can offer. From these it is clear that the price of a maiden was quite high and that it varied from person to person. This form of marriage is carry out usually through three mediums- (1). Exchange (2). Purchase (3). Service. In Genesis chapter 24:52-53, a similar marriage by purchase is recorded. When Abraham's servant heard what they said…..then the servant brought out gold and silver jewelry and articles of clothing and gave them to Rebekah; he also gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother. Another example of marriage by Service is that of Jacob who fell in love with Rebekah and work for her father seven years but he was decieved by his father in law by giving him Leah, instead of Rebekah. So Jacob worked for another seven years to get Rebekah. This form of marriage is popularly known as love marriage and it is depicted in movies, novels and celebrated by modern society today. This kind of marriage stand against the traditional type of marriage. As a result this type of marriage has less religious sanctions. Manu suggests that marriage-rites were not performed in the case of this type of marriage. In the Old Testament, particularly in the book of song of songs, many love songs and verses are written by king Solomon to his lover. He said ‘love relationship is like a vineyard coming to life after a long winter, like the fig tree which bears early fruit. Love awakened in the heart is like spring-time after a long winter.” In another verse, he wrote “She sleeps, but her heart is awake, waiting for her lover”. Another form of Gandharva marriage is recorded in Judges chapter 14. (I have mention earlier also). Here Samsom a young Israelite was in love with a beautiful Philistinian woman. According to their tradition, Samson cannot marry a woman outside his tribe. And more over the Philistinians are Gentiles (uncircumcised people) so it is against their religion to inter-marry with unholy people. But Samson strongly insisted his parents to go to the girls’ family and ask for the girls’ hand. Finally, Samson’s parents went down to the girls’ hometown along with Samson and married him off to her. The Rakshasa Vivaha was capture or adduction of a girl by force. The maiden forcefully abducted became the wife of the abductor after necessary marriage-rites were performed. In this form of marriage, the maiden is carried away as she weeps and her relatives are assaulted and slain. The marriage was celebrated in the absence of father or guardian of the bride and hence no question of payment of dowry of bride-price arises. Marriage by abduction is also found in Old Testament. In the book of Judges chapter 21, a situation of abduction marriage by Benjamin Tribe is mentioned. “They instructed the Benjamites, saying, "Go and hide in the vineyards and watch. When the girls of Shiloh come out to join in the dancing, then rush from the vineyards and each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and go to the land of Benjamin. When their fathers or brothers complain to us, we will say to them, `Do us a kindness by helping them, because we did not get wives for them during the war, and you are innocent, since you did not give your daughters to them.' " So that is what the Benjamites did. While the girls were dancing, each man caught one and carried her off to be his wife. Then they returned to their inheritance and rebuilt the towns and settled in them.” Manu describes this form of marriage as the worst marriage and thus it occupies the last place in the serial of eight legitimate Hindu marriage. If a woman is raped or sexually exploited, then the man if forced to marry her and the child will inherit the property despite the father’s disapprovement. In fact, from sociological point of view, this type of marriage is a good way of socialising the social pathology. In the Old Testament, similar form of marriage is recorded. In Duetronomy chapter 22:28-29 It is written, “If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, he shall pay the girl's father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the girl, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives”. This means that the man must inherit his property to their children, for he cannot divorce her as long as he lives. But in the case of an engaged woman, the man who raped must be killed and if the event took place within the town, then woman must also be killed. If a man happens to meet in a town a virgin pledged to be married and he sleeps with her, you shall take both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death--the girl because she was in a town and did not scream for help, and the man because he violated another man's wife. You must purge the evil from among you. There are two types of marriage payment which is generally known as (1). Dowry (2). Bride-price or Bride-wealth. Traditionally, dowry in India was regarded as a burden for the bride’s parents but an honour for the bride. Today, the pressure put upon young brides to persuade their parents to give more dowry has led to the humiliation, ill treatment or even death of the young brides. The gifts subsumed by the term dowry or dahej are given at the time the wedding or in some cases, soon after the marriage. They usually include household goods (furniture, utensils, bedding, perhaps electrical appliances) and clothes (most of which are destined to be redistributed among the groom’s kin). There is also certain personal gifts for the groom like wrist-watch, clothes, and even a scooter or a car. Dowry, unlike bride-price, is given by bride’s father to the groom. And usually, it serves as a status enhancement for the undistinguished girl by marrying into a reputed or better off family. The ideology of Kanya dan: marriage ie the giving of maiden practice by high caste hindus, is highly respected by even the low caste hindus. In Kanya dan marriage, the bride’s parents make a gift of their daughter, along with as big a dowry as can be provided, to the groom and his family. In India, bride-price or bride-wealth is commonly found among the lower caste hindus of the North India and the tribals of North East and other region. In the case of North India, the practice of bride-price during marriage is seen as shameful since the ideology of prestigious Kanya dan prevails dominantly. But in the case of North East Tribals, paying bride-price has nothing to do with prestige rather it is just a formality or merely a part of marriage customs. The basic difference between dowry and bridewealth is dowry compensates the groom’s family for the addition of a dependent non-productive member, whilst bridewealth compensates the bride’s family for the loss of an active productive member. In the book of Old Testament, the notion of Kanya dan if found but the payment of huge dowry by girl’s father to the boy’s family is not recorded. But the exchage of gifts between the two marriage party is common.practised. There are three types of Exchange of gifts which are associated with betrothel or engagement. They as follows- This was a gift to the bride or the groom from her father sometimes consisting of servants. In Genesis 24:59,61 Rebekah’s father gave nurse to her as a gift before she left with the groom. And in Judges 1:15 Achsah received a land and a spring of water from Caleb." In Genesis chapter 24:53 a detail record of the bridegroom's gift to the bride is written. The gift consists of jewellery and clothes for the bride and other costly items of gifts were distributed to the bride’s family members too.1 In Genesis chapter 34, Shechem a young Gentiles (uncircumcised) offered a huge bride-price to the girl’s father, requesting for the girl to be given to him as his wife2. In Exodus 22:17; Jacob performed seven years service for the girl’s father in order to take her as his wife. A similar payment through service was done by Moses who kept sheep for his father-in-law for many years.3 This was a compensation gift from the bridegroom to the family of the bride, and it sealed the covenant and bound the two families together. Some scholar have considered the mohar to be the price of the bride, but we should keep in mind that a wife was not bought like a slave. Hindu society has been traditionally a Patriachal society with the exception of the matriachal Nayar of Kerala. Being a Patriachal society, the eldest son enjoys the privilege of inheriting moveable as well as immovable propert like land. Women folks are compensated through the payment of huge dowry (movable property) during their marriage. In case of Nayars, women inherited the immovable property while the men managed the tarawads (Ancestral residence). In the Old Testament, there is no record of matriachal soceity. Patriachy was the dominating ideology of the Jews community and thus their social structure was a male bias structure. The eldest son is given the right to property inheritance usually a land and cattles. But this does not mean that women folks are discriminated. They were also given land, properties and servants by her family in time of her marriage. According to Numbers chapter 27, there is a situation where daughters receives the inheritance’ right in case of no son. Here, Five daughters of different Fathers came to Moses with a plea for giving them the rightship of inhereting their fathers' properties. They said "Our father died in the desert........and left no sons. Why should our father's name disappear from his clan because he had no son? Give us property among our father's relatives." So Moses brought their case before the LORD and the LORD said to him, "What Zelophehad's daughters are saying is right. You must certainly give them property as an inheritance among their father's relatives and turn their father's inheritance over to them. "Say to the Israelites, `If a man dies and leaves no son, turn his inheritance over to his daughter (first preference) and If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers (second preference). If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father's brothers. (third preference) If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it (last preference). "NU 27:1-11. Secondly, no inheritance is allowed to pass from tribe to tribe. So they must marry within their own relatives or clan or tribe. Thirdly, no inheritance for the son born of another woman. Judges 11:1-3 had recorded an event supporting to this rule. Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute. Gilead's wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. "You are not going to get any inheritance in our family," they said, "because you are the son of another woman." So Jephthah fled from his brothers. Whe the two marriage partners do not pull on well with each other either one of them abandons the other, they seek divorce, that is, legal breaking of marriage. The Smrtikaras has stated in detail about the problem of divorce. Gaut. Dh.S. XVIII.15-16: “If a husband had disappeared the wife had to wait for him for six years before she could marry again. If the husband returned at the end of six years she has to go back to him. In the case of brahmana who is gone for studies, she should way for ten years” Manu.Smr.IX.72. states that even after due rituals had been performed if the girl if found to be notorious or afflicted with disease, or cruel, one should foresake her”.Veda Vyasa Smr.II.9 Says that a person who blames a wife who is not blameworthy and abandons her must be fined. Thus from the above data, it is clear that a few marriages were broken if one or both of the partners were truly guilty, ie either they had serious disease, or they were not capable of producing children, or they could not pull on well with each other. In Old Testament, Initially divorce is strictly not permitted but later Moses allowed divorce because of the hardness of the people's hearts. This means that Moses did not command divorce , but regulated an existing practice. The detail account for the ground of divorce is written in Duetronomy 24:1-4. Firstly, If the husband finds 'some uncleanliness' (like leprosy) in his wife, she can be divorced. This law is similar with the Manu Smr. where a man can divorce his wife incase the wife had contacted some serious diseases like leprosy prior to their marriage but was kept secret. Secondly, There are two situations in which divorce is forbidden; when a man has falsely accused his wife of pre-marital unfaithfulness (Dt. 22:13-19); and when a man has had relations with a girl, and her father has compelled him to marry her (Dt. 22:28-29;) Thirdly, If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins (Ex. 22:16-17). Lastly, On some exceptional occasions divorce was insisted on. These were when the return exiles had married pagan wives (Ezra. 9-10) although divorce is implied here, rather than stated. There are many similarities as well as dissimilarities in Hindu and Jews marriages. The similarities are firstly, in both the marriages, the ideology of patriachy is the basis of their marriage system. As a result, the inheritance of property and descend is traced through the male line. The eldest son has the lion share and thus attention is mostly given to him. Secondly, the notion of Kanya dan (virgin bride) is highly respected in both the society. Thirdly, Women in both the society are compensated through marriage payment known as dahej in Hindu term and Mohar in Jewish term. In some exceptional cases, women are allow to inherit immovable property like land as in Hindu Nayars and Zelophehad's daughters of Jews.(Numbers chapt.27). Some dissimiliraties can be seen in the customs of marriage payment. In Hindu marriage, dowry payment by the bride’s father to the groom’s family is dominating whereas in the Jews marriage, the payment of bride-price by the groom’s family to the bride’s family is prevalent. Secondly, in the case of seeking a spouse, in Hindu marriage, a man must go beyond the five Sapinda on the mother side and seven gotra or pravara on the father’s side whereas in Jews marriage, a man can marry his cousin sisters. And he can have more than one wives and even takes a concubines. Preferably, a man must marry within his own clan and his own tribe. I find it very interesting to work on Hindu marriage and Jews marriage recorded in the Book of Old Testament and draw a comparison between the two. It has help me to understanding the meaning and the logic behind their forms of marriages. Most of all, through this work, I have received a better understanding of Hindu, Jews marriage in particular and the sociology of marriage in general. I find it very interesting to work on Hindu marriage and Jews marriage recorded in the Book of Old Testament and draw a comparison between the two form of marriages. It has help me to understand the meaning and the logic behind their forms of marriages. 2. The Sacrament of Marriage in Hindu Society. 3. Family, Kinship and Marriage in India. 3. International Encyclopadia of Social Sciences. Bibliography:

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