Before everyone gets worked up.
I suspect everyone realizes there is no honor in killing. I also suspect actual killings were rare. There would have some, and there still are. Those are acts against society, criminal acts, not done for honour.
The taking of life, unnecessarily, is against the fundamental Jat ethos, and unlikely to have been the first line of punishment.
If those who voted for, were asked, do you really support such so called ‘honor’ killing They would say that is NOT what they meant They were simply expressing their frustration..
The common punishment was- ostracization, for those who defied the traditions and customs of the community, the stoppage of “ Hooka – Pani”.
.WHY WERE MARRIAGE RELATIONS FOR NEW MARRIAGES BANNED INSIDE THE SAME VILLAGE?
Some thought on this may be useful.
The Jats follow a 4 goth removed system of marriage- they avoid the goths of the mother, father, and Paternal Grandmother. Some are more strict avoiding the goth of the maternal grandmother too.
No one here is arguing that this system be overthrown and marriage between cousins be accepted. What is being argued is that when a marriage in the village, though between different acceptable Goths , occurs, what should be done?
The old village was a small, homogenous unit. It was generally made up of the same goth-ra, or at best may have one family of another goth-ra in it.
It was simpler to treat all unmarried girls in the village as sisters, and though more than one goth may be present, marital relations were strictly avoided to preserve harmony.
Every unmarried daughter was treated as a sister, to avoid the chances of a relationship. They were for all practical purposes treated as cousins, even if they were not.
If those boundaries were not created and followed, the structure of the village society would been disturbed, and it is a truism, that no society can exist without some structure.
WHAT IS THE SITUATION TODAY?.
Today life and traditions are changing.
Villages are no longer small and isolated. They are connected to the outside world by road, telephone, and even the internet. Indeed there is a continual shift away from village, a normal process as industrialization supersedes agriculture.
Villages too are getting much bigger- some have over 25,000 persons in them. They are more like small towns.
There is less of need for interaction, as the nuclear families are more self sufficient, with the advent of technology tractors, tubewells, electricity, cars, and important family members earning income outside the village..
In this process, there is a lot more mobility.
The old village structure is declining.
Social taboos remain. Yet the old prohibitions of marriage within the same village will decrease, as time goes on, we may even see some newly weds tying the knot within the same gotra, and defying the social customs of their community.
What view will secular law take of this?
In Indian law there is no prohibition as such, for both the Muslim community ,and South Indian Hindus regularly marry their cousins. (Among the latter, there is a trend away from inter cousin marriage.)
The reality is that it may not be possible for the village society to stop marriage within the same village.
The questions then is what action should be taken or can be taken.
Does the Village society, the Panchayat, then take to steps to kill the couple or ostracize them, deny them the ability to live in the village?
Killing we are all in agreement is not an answer.
Is ostracization practical?
If not, then what is the answer?
Ravi Chaudhary
