All societies have prescriptions and proscriptions regarding who may or may not marry whom. In some societies these restrictions are subtle, while in some others, individuals who can or cannot be married are more explicitly and specifically defined. Forms of marriage based on rules governing eligibility or ineligibility of mates is classified as Endogamy and Exogamy.
(1) Endogamy
Exogamy, on the other hand, the reverse of endogamy, requires the individual to marry outside of his own group. Endogamy and exogamy are in reference to certain kinship units, such as clan, caste, racial, ethnic or religious groupings. In India, even village exogamy is practiced in certain parts of north India.
Religious endogamy is one of the most pervasive forms of endogamy. Most religious groups do not permit or like their members to marry individuals of other faiths. In addition, various groups in the social hierarchy such as caste and class also tend to be endogamous. Endogamy is a very important characteristic of the Indian caste system.
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Among Hindus, there are over three hundred castes / sub- castes and each one of them is endogamous. Despite modernizing trends in India, which have diluted caste restrictions in many respects, inter-caste marriages are still few and mostly limited to educated urban individuals. Although the norms of caste endogamy were widely prevalent, Hindu scriptures by allowing anuloma and pratiloma marriages, institutionalised, to a limited extent, inter-caste marital alliances.
The anuloma marriage permits an alliance between a lower caste woman and higher caste man, while the pratiloma marriage is an alliance between higher caste woman and a lower caste man. The former is referred to by the sociologists as hyper gamy and the latter hypo gamy.
(2) Exogamy
Rules of exogamy among Hindus are very specific. Hindus are traditionally prohibited from marrying in their own gotra, Pravara and Sapinda (gotra, pravara and sapinda refer to a group of individuals assumed to have descended from a paternal or maternal ancestor and are variously termed as clan, sib or lineage).
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The Hindu Marriage Act (1955) forbids marriage between two persons related within five generations on the father’s side and three on the mother’s side is void, unless permitted by local custom.
The exogamic rule, prohibiting marriage between siblings (brother – sister) and parent – child is followed in virtually all societies. Sexual relations between the members of an elementary nuclear family (other than parents) are termed as incest.