The eight forms of marriage mentioned in the Smritis are paisacha,
raksasa, gandharva, asura, prajapatya, arsa, daiva, and brahma, listed in an
ascending order of merit. The sacrament, however, attempts to bless and
consecrate every possible form of human union. Nuptial ceremonies are
supposed to impart sanctity to the marital relation.
First of all, the determination and selection of the couple control and
shape the institution of sacramental marriage. Normally a person should
marry in the same varna but outside the same gotra (clan), and pinda
(consanguinity). Anuloma marriage (in which the wife is of an inferior caste)
was permitted but not encouraged; pratiloma marriage (in which the husband
is of an inferior caste), though tolerated early, was later on discouraged and
banned. Restrictions regarding sagotra and sapinda marriages have been
invariably observed; their breach is regarded as incest and is legally
forbidden.
A marriage sacrament consists of items pertaining to the premarital,
marital, and postmarital stages. The most important of these are as
follows:
Vagdana (betrothal),
Vara-varana (formal acceptance of the bride–groom),
Kanya-dana (gift of the bride to the bridegroom by the legitimate
guardian),
Vivaha-homa (marriage offerings),
Panigrahana (clasping the hand),
Hridaya-sparsa (touching the heart),
Saptapadi (seven steps symbolic of prosperity and felicity),
Asmarohana (mounting the stone, symbolic of stability),
Suryavalokana (looking at the sun, as a witness to the sacrament),
10. Dhruva-darsana (looking at the Pole Star, a symbol of constancy),
11. Triratra-vrata (three nights’ continence),
12. Chaturthi-karma (fourth day ceremony or the formal unification of the
couple).
The Hindu marriage which the nuptials symbolise is not a social contract
in the modern sense of the term, but a religious institution, a sacrament.