Ancient India’s views on Premarital Liaison

In a country which protests against public display of affection, talking about Sex is still a taboo.Our teachers still shy away from teaching the reproduction process in schools. We wait for our turn at a Chemist’s shop and refrain from shouting aloud that we need a sanitary napkin who in turns packs it in a black bag . It is hard to believe that our Ancestors were much tolerant about everything we fuss about today. 

 

Allow me to get inside the past and bring shocking facts about India. It derives it’s named from Bharata, who was born out of a pre-marital relationship between Shakuntala, the beautiful maiden and daughter of sage Kanya with Dushyanata, a king. Hinduism never approves free sex nor condoms pre-marital relationship.

In the epic Mahabharata, Kunti, the mother of Pandavas beget a son, Karna from the Sun before getting married to Pandu.Fearing condemnation from the family, she deserts the newborn baby who eventually grows up to become a great warrior.

Recently  a Delhi Sessions Court judge ruled that premarital sex is “immoral” and against the “tenets of every religion.” and “no religion in the world allows premarital sex.” Many contemporary Hindus might agree with this judgment. However, ancient Hindus would have found this judgment so alien to their worldview.

 

Gāndharva Vivāha in Ancient Hinduism

Hindu texts catalog eight means of varying degrees of acceptability of acquiring a bride. Gāndharva vivāha is one of those. In this type of marriage, a woman selects her own mate. The two consensually agree to live together. Sensual passion drives the consummation of their relationship, which didn’t require parental or societal consent. In other words, premarital sexual courtship was allowed in gāndharva vivāha.

Understanding the Roots of Prejudice

 

The present judgment is not a reflection of either a reasonable thinking or the traditional Hindu worldview on the subject of premarital sex and morality. Instead, it is a reflection of the misogynistic  worldviews that many Indians have sadly internalized.

 

 

 In Mahabharat’s Adi Parva (or ‘Book of the Beginning’), it is said that if an unmarried woman expresses her desire to have sex, it should be fulfilled and if her wish is not fulfilled, it means death of religion. 

Ulupi clearly says to Arjuna that to satisfy a woman, it not against religion to sleep with her for one night.

 Hinduism views sexuality as natural and the feminine as sacred. The Ṥatapatha Brāhmaṇa (5:2:1:10) declares that the woman is the “better half of the man.”