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BRAHMIN, BRAHMAN (India)
Index→ India, Pakistan, Bangladesh → India →
Brahmans
More: Abor,
Lingayats, Bengali, Punjabi; Rājpūts, Nagas, Chamars,
Nayar, Todas, Hill Maria Gond, Hill Saoras, Sinhalese, Purum, Veda,
Santals, Garos, Muria Gonds, Baiga, Nimar Bahalis,
Telugu, Lepcha,
Lodha, Uttar Pradesh, Andamanese, Nicorbarese
See also: Pakistan,
Bangladesh
Brahmin male education was “characterized by
a commitment to sexual chastity, an important aspect of the vow of brahmacharya that the student had to take”[1]. “Traditionally”, writes Harper
(1964:p170)[2], “Brahmin girls were married before puberty,
and the marriage was consummated fifteen days after she reached puberty […]”.
Describing Kondayamkottai Maravars,
Fawcett (1903:p62)[3] states: “Marriage may be
celebrated either before, or after, puberty, and, though girls may live with
their husbands before this event, it is unusual for the ceremony to take
place after it. After puberty, a girl should not live with her parents”. “Until
recently, Brahmans used to be marry their girls before puberty, and parents
who had not succeeded in finding husbands for daughters past the age of
puberty were regarded as guilty of a great sin” (Srinivas,
1956:p484)[4]. This is significant, since Brahman marriage
is “in theory indissoluble”. Among the “low” castes, this institution was taken
with more liberalism, and marriage after puberty may occur. In the Mysore Brahmin community studied by Srinivas,
all marriages had to be consummated “on the sixteenth night after the bride’s
puberty” (Srinivas, 1942[5]:p134-5; Goody, 1990:p207-8)[6]. In the Nagara
Brahmin community on which Mankad (1934-5)[7]reported, a bride only
visited her husband’s home after puberty and took up permanent residence
there six months later.
Janssen,
D. F., Growing Up Sexually. VolumeI. World Reference Atlas. 0.2 ed. 2004. Berlin:
Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology, Berlin
Last
revised: Sept 2004
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