Major Duties of Indian Family
In every culture of the world, the main duties of the family include the upbringing of children, the service of the elderly, the care of the sick and the protection and support of each member, but the Indian family also performs some specific tasks. Getting rid of the three debts, performing Panch Mahayagya and performing sixteen rites were the main duties of every Indian family.
To get rid of three loans
Indian sages believed that every human being receives some service, object, knowledge, blessings and grace from the gods, sages, parents, guests and other persons and beings of the society. Therefore there are three debts on every human being- (1.) Dev loan, (2.) Rishi loan, (3.) Pitru loan. It is the duty of every human being that he should try to get rid of these three debts by doing righteous conduct and performing his duties.
(1.) Dev Loans: Human beings need means of water, land, air etc. to survive. All these resources are provided by divine powers. That is why we should not do such work which harms water, land or air. Planting trees for the protection of natural resources, cleaning the water bodies, getting the soil out of them, not committing violence against animals and birds, arranging their food and water, etc., are helpful in repaying the debt. P>
(2.) Sage Loan: Man receives knowledge from different persons of the society. With the help of this knowledge, he makes his living, because of this man is indebted to the society. This is called Rishi loan. To get rid of this debt, man should share knowledge among the people of the society and make arrangements like opening schools for students, providing free books and distributing scholarships.
(3.) Pitru Debt: Man is raised by his parents or family members and makes him capable of earning a living by getting proper education. Because of this, every human has the responsibility of taking care of his family and raising his children. This is called parental debt. To be oblivious to this loan, it is the duty of every person to get married and settle the household and take proper care of his family.
(4.) Subordinate Debt: Apart from these three main loans, there are two secondary loans – guest loans and ghost loans. We also get some knowledge and cooperation from both of them from time to time. To get rid of these five debts in the scriptures, the law of Panch-Mahayagyas has been kept.
Panch-Mahayagya
Hindu-Theology has prescribed the law of Panch-Mahayagyas for each family-
(1.) Brahma Yagya: Through this yagya man used to express his respect to his ancient sages. That's why it is called 'Rishi Yagya' Also called. Studying was considered the best way to show respect to the ancient sages. For this reason the Aryans made the rule of self-study.
(2.) Dev Yagya: This was done to show gratitude to the gods. 'Swaha' each person with the mantras of gods and goddesses like Agni, Indra, Prajapati, Soma, Prithvi etc. in the morning and evening. By saying this, a law was made to offer the offerings of ghee, milk, curd etc. to the fire in the fire.
(3.) Bhoot Yagya: Under this yagya, food is sacrificed to the earth, water, air, sky, Prajapati and Vishwadev etc. for the satisfaction of all the elements of the universe and animals and birds like crow, cow, ant and dog etc. .
(4.) Pitru Yagya: In this yajna, tarpan, sacrifice or shraadh are organized for the ancestors. Food and water are thrown towards the south for the ancestors.
(5.) Man Yagya: To demonstrate the sense of responsibility towards human beings, the necessity of hospitality was established. Under this yagya, food is served to the guest before eating himself.
Marriage Systems in India
The tradition of marriage of man and woman started with the aim of tying the sexual relations of men and women in discipline and providing man with a well-ordered household life to achieve Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha. From the Vedic-era to the Sutra period, many types of marriage systems came into vogue in India, out of which eight systems were considered prominent and were 'ashta-system' where did it go. These eight systems of marriage are as follows-
(1.) Brahma Vivah: Under this system, the responsibility of the marriage of the girl child was on her father or guardian. After finding a suitable groom for his daughter, he used to marry his daughter lawfully to that suitable groom. In this marriage, nothing was taken from the bride's side or the bride's side. This marriage was considered the best among all types of marriage systems and was called Brahma Vivah.
(2.) Prajapatya Marriage: This marriage system is similar to brahmin marriage, there is only difference of name. The purpose of this marriage is to produce Praja (children). In this, the father of the girl worships the groom and donates his daughter lawfully and while exhorting both of them to lead a household life, says- 'You two (husband and wife) live together and practice dharma.' There is no transaction in this type of marriage also.
(3.) Divine Marriage: Sometimes, being impressed by the qualities and abilities of the priest who performed the yajna, the host used to marry his daughter with him. Since the bridegroom performed divine work (yajna), this system of marriage was called divine marriage. With the disappearance of the tradition of Vedic sacrifices, such marriages stopped.
(4.) Arsh Marriage: In this marriage system, the father of the girl used to marry his daughter by taking a cow and a bull from the groom's side. The cows and oxen thus obtained were used in the sacrificial works. Hence its name 'Arsh Vivah' lay.
(5.) Gandharva Marriage: This type of marriage is called 'love marriage' OR 'Pranoy Vivah' Can say. In this system, the boy and the girl fall in love before marriage and they accept each other as husband and wife. Parental consent is not important in this. The marriage of Dushyant and Shakuntala is an example of this. This marriage system also indicates the adult stage of the bride and groom. Rishis like Apastamba and Vashishtha have considered this system to be irreligious.
(6.) Asur Marriage: In this marriage system, the girl child is sold. The girl's father, before marriage, asks the groom's side for the price of his daughter and only after getting the price, marries his daughter. This marriage system was strongly opposed. Bodhayan has written- 'The father who sells the girl goes to the dire hell and the creator-wife cannot be a dharma-married. She is like a maidservant.'
(7.) Rakshasa Marriage: By defeating or killing the girl's father and relatives against the wishes of the girl, kidnapping the girl and marrying her is called Rakshasa marriage. This marriage system was more popular among the Kshatriyas, but the sutrakars have prohibited this marriage system.
(8.) Paishach Marriage: The lowest order of the eight systems of marriage is Paishacha marriage. When a person had sexual intercourse with a sleeping, unconscious, lunatic or frantic girl child by deceit or force with a girl who was awake, then that person was compelled to marry that girl. That's why it was called Paishach Vivah.
Idea of clan-gotra in marriage relation
In the ancient Hindu scriptures, marriage within the Gotra, Pravara and blood relation of the parents is considered to be prohibited. Gotra and Pravara are the names of the ancestral sage from whom a particular community is believed to have originated. Various castes including Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas consider themselves to be the children of some ancient sage like Bharadwaj, Vashishtha, Shandilya etc.
Therefore, the children of the same ancestor (Gotra and Pravara) cannot be tied in a mutual marriage. Marriage is also forbidden within the sapinda. Sapind refers to the blood relation between mother and father. In the present time, marriages are generally done by avoiding the gotra of four clans- Dada, Dadi, Nana and Nani.
Inter-caste marriage
Although it is considered appropriate in the society to marry in one's own varna or one's own caste, yet inter-caste marriages have also been in vogue from ancient times to the present time. There were two types of inter-caste marriages - Anuloma and Pratiloma.
Anuloma marriages were those in which a man married a girl of a lower caste, such as the marriage of a Brahmin man with a Kshatriya or Vaishya girl, and the marriage of a Kshatriya man with a Vaishya girl. Pratiloma marriages were those in which a man married a girl of a higher varna, such as a Kshatriya man and a Brahmin girl or a Vaishya man and a Kshatriya or Brahmin girl. The Dharma Shastras recognized Anuloma marriage, while Pratiloma marriage was considered to be against religion and the children born of it were illegal.
Niyoga Pratha
The practice of niyoga has been in vogue in Indian society since time immemorial. In this system, any woman could produce a son after the death of her husband in childless condition or when the husband was impotent or sick, by mating with her brother-in-law or other kin, homogeneous male. The memory of the son born in this way 'Kshetraj's son' Said. The son thus obtained had full recognition in the then society.
Divorce
According to Hindu scriptures, marriage is a relationship of birth and birth, so it cannot be dissolved. Manusmriti states that husband and wife should be true and faithful to each other in the matter of Dharma, Artha and Kama and should always try that they should never be separated, mutual loyalty of husband and wife Continue till then, this is the ultimate dharma of husband and wife.
Manu has considered the marital relationship as a sacred and indestructible sacrament and prohibited the remarriage of women. Narada Muni and Parashara Muni give approval for divorce in special circumstances. According to Kautilya - Brahma, Prajapatya, Arsha and Dev marriages cannot be dissolved, but if there is mutual hatred between Gandharva, Asura, Rakshasa and Paishach marriages, the marriage can be dissolved with the consent of each other.
With the increasing monopoly of men in ancient Hindu society, the rules of divorce for women also became stricter. Divorce was considered a bad act among the upper castes. For the woman, the husband was the form of God, whose service and obedience was the supreme religion of the woman.