Of Marriage and Migration

Abstract

This article focuses on long-distance or cross-regional marriages in a village in Badaun District of Uttar Pradesh where brides have migrated from the states of West Bengal and Bihar. These marriages cross caste, linguistic and state boundaries and the marriage distance exceeds 1,000 kilometres. At destination, it is a combination of factors such as landlessness or marginal landownership, higher age or prior marital status and ‘flawed’ reputation that makes it difficult for men to find local wives. These factors have to be seen in the context of the low sex ratio (causing a shortage of brides) of the district and the state. At source, the compulsions include poverty and the inability of parents to meet the dowry demands of local men. The article argues that the long-distance/cross-regional marriages are not dowry marriages. Nor are the brides bought, given in exchange for a bride-price or trafficked. They are a new kind of commercially mediated marriage involving payment to a go-between.

Women, Marriage and Migration in the Bangladeshi Enclaves in the India–Bangladesh Borderland

“…Scholars working on the marriage system write about dowry-less marriage practices to attract brides. Research informs that the ‘less valued’ males—the poor, unemployed, disabled, or socially disgraced men unable to find brides from the local area, accept dowry-less marriages or unlavish marriages (Chaudhry & Mohan, 2011; Kaur, 2012). Enclave residents, too, adopted such practices.…”

Cross-Border Intimacies: Marriage, migration, and citizenship in western India

“…Monetary transactions involve a range of payments: to the bride's parents and various forms of cash payments given to intermediaries who may be involved in the process; wedding expenses are typically borne by the groom's family. The 'transactional' element to the exchange has raised questions over whether or not this is 'trafficking' 28 but most ethnographic studies have now concluded that these marriages must not be conflated with the 'trafficking' of women and should be 25 R. Kaur studied as a sociological phenomenon in their own right, 29 as particular instances of socially sanctioned non-endogamous, inter-caste marriage among Hindus. 30 Within this body of literature, it is also suggested that 'long-distance' marriage migration in India is a primarily Bengali phenomenonconstituting a 'Bengali bridal diaspora'.…”

Caste and Cross-region Marriages in Haryana, India: Experience of Dalit cross-region brides in Jat households

“…The nexus of caste, patriarchy, and gender in shaping the experiences of these brides in their new homes is overlooked as claims are made that these marriages 'unit[e] rural, illiterate Indians across boundaries of region, language, religion and even caste' 15 without disturbing the 'structural basis of caste and its hierarchies in the village'. 16 The low-caste status of the brides is understood as a minor irritant that can easily be reconciled as they adjust to new caste practices. 17 The failure of these scholars lies in conflating caste violence with the gender oppression that all incoming brides have to deal with in any marriage; in the process, the unequal and oppressive power relations embedded within caste-marked identities intersecting with patriarchal structures are not excavated.…”

“…Some scholars assert that children of cross-region unions are accepted unequivocally within the caste brotherhood and are not treated differently in matrimony. 121 For instance, Mishra relies on a very small sample of seven cross-region brides to conclude that all such children face no caste-based discrimination. 122 Ironically, she critiques reservations about caste acceptance of these children voiced by other scholars 123 by stating that it is 'misleading to generalise .…”