Marriage as a Sacrament in Modern India: Losing Value?

What a sacrament means

• In Hindu tradition, marriage is a samskara, a purifying rite of passage.
• Vivaha is one of the sixteen samskaras.
• The bond was seen as religious, lifelong and indissoluble.
• It was never a mere bargain between families.

The fire and the seven steps

• Agni, the sacred fire, is the witness to the vows.
• Saptapadi means seven steps taken together.
• Under Section 7(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the seventh step completes the marriage.

Sacrament plus contract

• The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, keeps the sacred rites but adds contractual rules.
• Section 5 sets conditions: monogamy, consent and legal age.
• Section 13 allows divorce on listed grounds.
• So the law softens the old idea of indissolubility. See the Hindu Code Bill.

Still near-universal

• Most Indian adults still marry.
• NFHS-5 (2019-21): 23.3% of women aged 20-24 were married before 18.
• That was down from 26.8% in NFHS-4.
• Read more in Child Marriage in India.

Courts still call marriage sacred

• In the Hadiya case (2018), the Supreme Court protected an adult woman’s right to choose her spouse.
• Lata Singh (2006) protected inter-caste choice.
• Shakti Vahini (2018) tied marriage choice to Article 21.

The law keeps rewriting the sacrament

• The Special Marriage Act, 1954, allows purely civil marriage.
• Widow remarriage was legalised as early as 1856.
• Inter-caste and inter-religious marriages are fully valid today.

Social change

• Urbanisation weakens joint-family control over matches. See the joint family.
• Women’s education and jobs raise their bargaining power.
• Love marriages and apps change how couples meet.
• Live-in relationships are a visible urban choice.
• People marry later and plan smaller families.

Courts put the individual first

• Joseph Shine (2018) struck down the adultery law.
• Puttaswamy (2017) made privacy a fundamental right.
• Intimate choices now draw on privacy and dignity.

The pull of the institution

• Most Indian marriages are still arranged.
• Rituals like the pheras remain almost universal.
• India’s divorce rate is among the lowest in the world.
• Families still invest heavily in weddings.

The age debate

• A 2021 bill proposed raising women’s marriage age to 21.
• It lapsed with the 17th Lok Sabha in 2024.
• The legal minimum for women remains 18.

Institution versus companionship

• Sociologists describe a global shift in marriage.
• Ernest Burgess called it a move from institution to companionship.
• Marriage now centres on love and personal choice.
• Urban India shows this shift clearly.

Same-sex marriage

• The Supreme Court refused it in Supriyo (2023) and left the question to Parliament.
• It recognised transgender persons’ right to marry within existing laws.
• Read more in Same-Sex Marriage and the Supriyo Verdict.

Conversion, bigamy and the UCC

• Sarla Mudgal (1995) held that conversion does not end a first marriage for bigamy purposes.
• The Court also urged Parliament to enact a Uniform Civil Code.

Verdict

• The sacrament is not dying. It is changing.
• Law, courts and society now define its form.
• The sacred core persists in ritual and sentiment.

The Uniform Civil Code spreads

• Uttarakhand’s UCC came into force on 27 January 2025. It makes marriage registration compulsory and requires live-in couples to register. (Source: The Economic Times)
• Around 4.7 lakh marriages were registered in its first year. (Source: The Times of India)
• Gujarat’s Assembly passed its UCC Bill on 24 March 2026. Assam’s passed its Bill on 27 May 2026. Assam’s law bans polygamy and exempts Scheduled Tribes. (Source: Free Press Journal)
• Both laws reportedly received the President’s assent in September 2026. (Source: The Statesman)

Child marriage data

• NFHS-6 (2023-24) reports women aged 20 to 24 married before 18 at 20.1%, down from 47.4% in 2005-06. (Source: Government of India summary)