Polygamy in India

Today i read an eye opening article in 'Times of India'. It was on polygamy. Its said that in India more Hindu men practice bigamy than muslim , when the law does not allow the Hindu men to do so. The Muslim men are allowed to do so by law. Yes, you might remember that I once had blogged saying that this should be repealed and that all men are equal should be treated equal by law. Also, the article does not talk about Polygamy practiced by women, or if it does exist.

Also there were much more split ups like South Indians are more in practicing the same , adivasis are another dominant group. All these facts made me think a little bit about this polygamy thing. Where is this leading us to? In Hindu mythology there were polygamy quoted in many places. Ironically, the most famous one is of course of of Draupadi who had 5 husbands. Also, of King Dasharatha, Shri Rama's father who had three wives. The first one where Draupadi has 5 husbands, in reality each husband represents a separate quality eg: Yudhishtira represented truthfulness and so on for other 4 brothers. In the second case, the Kind did not have a child to rule his kingdom after him. Similarly the Quaran says that a man can have upto 4 wives when in a state of war (and similar instances where women may out number men).

So basically no religion promotes polygamy, its us that are misrepresenting them for our vices So I believe we need to do two things. 1) Blanket ban on polygamy 2) Heavy price for somebody who practices it irrespective of reason.(including the silent spectators).

Elaborating my point. We should make Polygamy or bigamy completely illegal. People should not be just allowed to convert to Islam and just remarry.(famous Fiza Chand case and many more). No Indian citizen should have the legal right to marry again when the first wedlock is still on.

Secondly, If some body is involved in Polygamy, the should pay a heavy price for it. Not just them but other involved, but who did not blow the whistle. Example, there was this Indian engineer who died in Afganistan who had a second wife. She did not get anything from the compensation of the govt. Well, I would say, she should have got some amount of it , but both her and the first wife should have been heavily penalized. Well, it might sound a bit rude. But thats the fact, we need to take that kinda actions. We should penalize, the involved parents, the witnesses and most importantly the person who conducted the rituals.

But then the question is, what if the next generation (my generation) the way it is, just decided 'we don't care'. They just decide that they will live together and not marry. Well, I believe in that case the law cannot do anything unless the first spouse complains. Will that happen in our society where social stigma is more feared than AIDS? May be my suggestion will force the next generation to pass of the the institution of marriage. Somebody, when Article 377 (stigmatizing Gay and transsexuals)was scrapped by HC Delhi said to me, "what are they going to do next? legalize orgies?". Well, I believe my suggestion is better than legalizing polygamy. It will at least make the message clear to the citizens. "We don't allow it, but you practice its your problem, and hey, if somebody blows whistle mate, you are screwed".

Its a serious problem that I believe is eroding our cultural values, especially sending out a misrepresentation of our culture to the rest of the world and to our next generation. Institution of marriage is not just about needs and satisfaction. Its much more than that and first one is commitment to be number 1 to somebody in their life and make sure that they are number 1 in ur life. Not just that they are number 1, but that there can be no other number.


People who are shouting about our cultural values eroding, may be they should re align their priorities. It will help this country much more.