Mixed marriages or as we call it Inter caste marriages are referred to those marriages where the bride and groom belong to different religions/cast. It doesn’t mean that there is any sort of religion conversion involved, both the parties remain adherent to their respective religions.

During the early period of India, inter-caste marriages were considered to be a big taboo to enter. People were specifically particular to go for a matrimonial tie-up to a person belonging to the same caste or religion. When it came to marriages in India, parents use to look for Brides in India or Grooms in India who belonged to their own religion. But nowadays the scene has changed to a great extent. Bane on inter-caste marriages is a thing of past now as it was a big hindrance in growth and progress on our nation, and with the development still being a ongoing process many reformations are made both in terms of action as well as mind set to come out of this social menace.

The very problem of inter-caste marriages in India was so deep rooted that it took us a lot of time and effort to reform the very idea of it. Earlier, people pertaining to a particular religion used to believe that those who didn’t belong to their religion would end up in hell, but with change in time and education, the thinking of people has also changed. Now people are open to the idea of love marriages or inter-caste marriages and much more, and this can be witnessed by the very fact that – parents are more open to the idea of their children’s finding a partner for themselves or looking for a match for their children on the net via various matrimonial sites. The earlier taboos that were associated with a matrimonial tie-up are being removed now. For instance: when it came to age difference, the girl was suppose to be either younger or equal to the boy, but one can see a change there as well, the very best example is our own film industry where we can see couples where the bride is older to the groom.

One of the major reasons for a change in the orthodox mind set besides a changing trend could be because people have started to realize that a successful marriage is not based upon what caste or religion does the boy/girl belong to. In fact government itself is making many efforts to promote it via educating people more on this subject; rewarding people who enter into inter caste marriages and much more. Various religions are changing their outlook regarding this subject, though the change is more prominent in cities as compared to villages, where people are still rigid when it comes to inter-caste matrimonies.

So, it all comes down to the fact that in earlier periods when India was still at developing stage marriages were a very sorted out and rigid affair but with the change in trend, education, exposure, technology and awareness, a remarkable change in the outlook of people is visible and more and more people are gradually starting to accept the concept of inter-caste marriages.

Few useful links:

http://www.jeevansathi.com/