International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS)

In MARRIAGE AND MODERNITY Rochona Majumdar explores the evolving practice of arranged marriage in Bengal during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Focusing on the diverse Hindu Bengali middle class, or bhadralok, Majumdar argues against the association of arranged marriage with tradition or backwardness, proposing instead that over this period arranged marriage evolved into an institution of modernity. She asserts that arranged marriage did not exist as a timeless or unchanging phenomenon, but rather was profoundly dynamic and responsive to the rapid shifts in society that occurred during the last part of the colonial era and the early years of independence. These changes in the practice of arranged marriage and the constitution of the joint family reflected a process of negotiating a new and modern set of Indian values and traditions that were influenced by, but distinct from, those of the Western colonizers. Majumdar draws on a tremendous range of sources, many of which have never been translated into English, from caste newspapers and advertisements, to contemporary literary works, to wedding menus and invitations, effectively creating her own archive of wedding texts.

The book covers three broad topics relating to arranged marriage: the emergence of the marriage market and the corresponding rise in the practice of dowry; the new debates surrounding taste and vulgarity, which arose in response to the commoditization of marriage; and the legal regulations around marriage, the joint-family, and inheritance. In a chapter on dowry, Majumdar looks at the public backlash that arose after the 1914 suicide of a young Bengali girl, Snehalata, allegedly to save her father from impending financial ruin brought on by the enormous dowry demands of potential grooms. She explores the responses to Snehalata in popular literature and newspapers, tracing opposing currents which alternately celebrated her sacrifice as a model of virtuous womanhood, or condemned her suicide as selfish and misguided. Another chapter examines the rise in popularity of priti upohaar poems, written by family members directly for the marrying couple. Originally designed to bring an element of taste and sincerity to weddings, Majumdar shows how these poems eventually became another element of the commercial marriage market, with volumes of generic versions on sale at local bookshops. And the final chapter examines the debates leading up to the passage of the Hindu Code Bills in 1956, which sought to reshape marriage practices and by extension the traditional joint family structure as part of an effort to establish a new and “modern” Indian national identity.