The law of the Catholic Church treats marriage as a sacramental contract dissoluble only by death, but the Hindu law goes further by declaring against the remarriage of widows.
This rule of Hindu has been legislated upon by Act XV. of 1856, which makes a Hindu widow eligible for a new marriage, but the marriage of a widow has never been the practice among Hindus.
Mann says: “A widow who from a wish to bear children slights her deceased husband by marrying again brings a disgrace on herself here below and shall be excluded from the seat of her lord.”
Polygamy, or plurality of wives, is permitted by the Hindu law, but is rarely practiced.
Polyandry, or plurality of husbands, is contrary both to the Hindu law and the provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The three higher castes are permitted to intermarry with the caste next below their own, the issue taking the lower caste or sometimes forming a new caste.
In many ways the theoretical inferiority of the Sudra absolves him from the restraints which the letter of the law lays on the three higher castes.
Age for Marriage.—In the Hindu law want of age, though a disqualification for other purposes, does not render a person incompetent to marry.
Ordinarily the lowest age is eight years for females, but a girl may be married before that age if a suitable husband is procured for her. If none of the persons who ought to give a girl in marriage do so before she completes her eleventh year she may choose a husband for herself.
A girl must be given in marriage before she attains puberty. The reason for marrying off a girl before she reaches the age of puberty is that the marriage should be free from sexual desire.