riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (06/12/85)
Another point regarding arranged marriages which I haven't yet seen in this discussion is this: a traditional marriage in India is not the union of two individuals, but the union of two families. For this to work, parents and other relatives must play a much more important role in the selection of marriage partners than they do in, for example, North America. Lest anyone doubt that the role of the family is very different in India from what most North Americans are used to, how many non-Indians out there would have made the following statement? > Regarding "maturity" of the choice: who can know and > understand you better than your parents? No wonder most Arranged > marriages end up being a more sensible choice of partners. Speaking for myself, I can say with certainty that I know myself a lot better than my parents do -- there are certain things about me that my parents don't understand and never will (and the relationship is probably mutual). This may not be the case in India, which is perhaps part of why the Indian family is the admirably cohesive institution that it is. --- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.") --- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle --- riddle@ut-sally.UUCP, riddle@ut-sally.ARPA, riddle%zotz@ut-sally