Exploring the Myth of Mixed Marriages in India: Evidence from a Nation-wide Survey

Marriages in India are essentially endogamous in nature. The influences of western education and socio-economic transformations have led to enormous change in the existing pattern of choosing one’s life partner and marriage practices in India. For the first time, this paper presents a comprehensive empirical assessment of the extent of mixed marriages by analyzing nationally representative data from the Indian Human Development Survey (IHDS, 2005). We consider mixed marriages in the following key aspects: Inter-caste marriage, Inter-religious marriage and Inter-economic group marriage (Inter-class marriage). The trend analyses reveal that the proportion of inter-caste and inter-religious marriages has doubled in the last two and half decades. With the exception of inter-class marriages, the absolute level of mixed marriages is still exceedingly small. Besides, there are substantial variations across the states. Regression analyses show a significant socio-economic differential in the occurrence of mixed marriages. The study reveals that a very few women have the freedom to choose their spouse. These findings assume importance in the context of an increasing number of ‘honour killings’ in India in the recent years.