Sages of yore have laid down the ground rules to be followed without let up by married couples. These prescriptions can be accessed by lay people with the help of scholars conversant with the text in Sanskrit. Publications of the ancient text in many languages, including Kannada, may not be hard to find. Thanks to the knowledge based on keen observations made by people of past generations over centuries, a great deal of advisory has also emerged on the do’s and don’ts to be followed to ensure the wedded-to-be couples live a happy married life, the dream of not only their parents but all well-wishers of the couple and their family. Mysureans of many decades past can recall the elders in the families focussing on the crucial implications of vara saamya or compatibility relating to many issues such as age disparity, social status, physical parameters, capability of the groom to care for  his would-be life partner and so on. The societal pre-matrimony as well as post-matrimony practices have witnessed a time-warp culminating in a no-holds-barred game of matrimony in our days.

While child marriage and even infant marriage, enjoyed societal sanction in the past, the orthodoxy in the era gone by did not favour consanguineous marriage (marrying close relatives or from same descent-gothra), perhaps with the rudimentary knowledge that the progeny of such couples would not be robust physically or mentally sound, apart from deformities and disorders.

In a certain sense, both health and wealth are hereditary, given a) the knowledge that some afflictions such as diabetes are inherited and b) jewellery and other assets such as land are passed on by the father to the son and daughters, as per the land’s laws. While conserving health (both inherited and developed by good habits and diet) and protecting wealth (particularly the inherited part) are both issues of wisdom, the time-honoured belief that getting boys married would bring in its wake stability in life has just got fractured due to the volatile nature of modern society, particularly a) disregard to advice of the elderly, b) stressful life marked by threats to harmony and peace, c) vacuum of mentors for the youth, d) despicable ways of community leaders as role models in societies and so on.

While people at large marvel at the many-sided benefits of marriage, including healthy living, a study based on a nationally representative sample of Swiss households published recently has busted the link between marriage and healthy living. Now, the elders in the family may have to revisit their conviction that all will be well once their wards are married. The sociologists will have to strain their brains on addressing issues of a society with an expanding mass of unmarried boys and girls.