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Benjamin Morley
ANTH 635 Final Essay
12/05/12
Inter-caste Marriage in Urban India
Caste in India is the product of thousands of years of cultural and social organization, a
form of identity, and a major source of criticism of the Hindu religion and to a larger extent
Indian culture. For those who seek to eliminate the discrimination tied to caste, there have been
many remedies suggested. Mohamadas K. Gandhi and Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar both claimed
that marriage between the castes would help to destroy the strength of caste and to elevate those
who were historically oppressed by the institution. They believed that caste would lose its’
importance as a social label if people intermarried and had children of mixed caste, that blood
ties would make stronger bonds between the different caste groups than caste restrictions. While
inter-caste marriage is legally available in India under the Special Marriage Act, caste is still a
powerful social force. Caste is still an issue in marriage in India and the response to inter-caste
marriage is multifaceted and controversial. The reasons for the persistence and strength of caste,
whether in marital decisions or how this social system is challenged, are political, economic,
social, and cultural. While not as strong in urban India in regards to the historical and colonial
norms of caste, the social system of caste survives and may be reinterpreted according to the
norms of the youth. That is to say that caste, and the attitudes that come with it, are multifaceted
and some of the reasons behind the attitudes towards different castes are not necessarily relevant
in urban environments. The younger generation can question the legitimacy and relevance of
caste and the attitudes behind it in an urban environment.

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Caste
Caste is a form of identity that pervades India, even in the age of globalization and
economic liberalization, both of which have helped to change the economic and social dynamics
of Western class based societies. Unlike Western notions of class, which are mainly economic
based distinctions, caste is based on social ties and heredity more than profession, unlike in class;
wealth doesn’t change one’s caste. In India, caste is determined by the father and passed from
father to child and normally is unchanged for the rest of the child’s life. Caste is part of the
everyday lives of both men and women, and what is expected of both is determined partly by
caste restrictions on interactions. The caste system is separated into varnas, at the top is the
Brahmin caste, which traditionally functioned as the priests. Below the Brahmin caste are the
Ksatriyas, the warriors traditionally but also the caste that dealt with statecraft and government.
Following them are the Vaisyas, traders and merchants. The bottom caste is the Sudra, farmers
and those stuck in menial jobs. The group officially outside the caste system are Dalits, but
pejoratively known as “Untouchables” for the belief that they pollute the spiritual purity of the
different castes. Each of the main castes is split into even smaller sub castes, or jati, which are
professions such as tanners and goldsmiths. While these castes each had a profession they were
traditionally attached to, most modern Indians do not follow the professions of their caste in
urban areas.
Caste in Marriage
In traditional times, a woman typically pursued an intra-caste marriage because of the
stability of social relations such a marriage brought since she remained in her caste and therefore
her social safety network. Marrying within one’s caste also allowed for strengthening of caste

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ties and did not produce a culture shock as the norms, religious rituals, dietary restrictions, etc.,
were all similar, though there was variation within caste throughout India. It should also be
noted that most marriages, both traditional and modern, are arranged by family, meaning the
families of both spouses took responsibility for a marriage dissolving, which leads to increased
incentives by both sets of in-laws to work on making sure a marriage stayed together, even if the
marriage might otherwise have dissolved on its own (Kishwar 1994). This is not to say that all
marriages were forced by families, but the marriages themselves were based on more than the
wills of the groom and bride, and there were more vested interests in the marriage. There was
also a stigma regarding re-marriage for women, in some rare cases going as far as the practice of
sati, or widow burning, in some areas of India.
To have a better understanding of how caste and marriage are changing, understanding
changes in urban India is important. More than half the population of India will be living in
cities by 2050 according to the Indian Institute of Human Settlements. In the past thirty years,
most of the population of cities is due to births in the cities, accounting for 60%, while rural to
urban migration only accounts for 20%, but this may change as more people leave the rural areas
to look for jobs in cities (Chowdhury 2012). More people are going to cities looking for work,
and major changes in Indian society are coming from urbanization. If the projections are right,
than more of India will be urban than rural in the future, and this means a different society with
different notions of social organization and a changing view on caste. Among urban Indians,
caste is weakening in regards to marriage, according to matchmaking website Jeevansathi.com,
which had inter-caste couples accounting for 58% of its matches ("Business and caste,"2007).
Even if inter-caste marriage is low in India, it’s more likely in urban areas than in rural areas. To
see how caste is changing, the urban areas provide a potential glimpse of the future for India.

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Most of India is still rural, but urban India is a place where people of many different
castes live and mingle daily, which the caste system is supposed to prevent with rules on social
interaction between different castes. Since most people living in urban India interact with
members of different castes, according to economic theorists, inter-marriage is projected to come
naturally as a result of growing interaction between people of different castes. In the urban
areas, people of different castes are in close proximity to each other, whether it’s food vendors,
in public transit, or even the work place. The mixing of different caste groups in close quarters
in cities makes the ritual observance of caste purity impossible since the restrictions are not
easily enforceable. Caste is not a biological or ethnic trait; a Brahmin and a Dalit could meet and
never know the difference in caste. Caste itself is maintained by the social relationships that
caste establishes, and outside the social context, it would be impossible to pick out individuals on
the basis of caste without some sign of caste, such as traditional dress, which is not reliable since
not everyone dresses in traditional attire. In a work place with a western dress code, caste would
be impossible to determine outside of possibly an individual giving his or her name, which itself
varies regionally. It would seem caste would lose out to individual relationships such as business
partnerships and friendships based on work place and occupation, that the importance of caste
itself would lose out to the importance of skill and wealth in the new liberalized Indian market.
The power of economic mobility would take away the stigma of being low caste if one is
successful in making a great deal of wealth, and downward economic mobility would make the
benefit of being a high caste obsolete since the individual would still be poor. This would make
caste salience a problem of the past and eventually would make India into a casteless society
where everyone is equally able to succeed or fail on their individual merits. Despite economic
liberalization’s weakening of caste salience, the number of reported inter-caste marriages is still

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low in spite of government attempts to promote such marriages. This could be that people still
choose to marry within their sub-castes, or it could be the transition from the older values to
more recent values since urbanization is relatively recent compared to Western nations.
Restrictions on Inter-Caste Marriage
While considered a means to end the dominance of caste, the idea of inter-caste marriage
has been around for thousands of years. There are two kinds of inter-caste marriage, Anuloma
and Pratiloma. Anuloma is when a man of higher caste marries a woman of lower caste, which
is allowable since the child born of such a marriage would take on the caste of the father in most
cases. Pratiloma is when a higher caste woman marries a lower caste man, which is not only
forbidden in most cases, but has led to so called “honor killings” in which the woman was killed
for supposedly disgracing the family (Deshpande 2002). According to Deshpande, caste was
meant to control labor by dividing up society into different economic groups with assigned roles,
and to control women’s sexuality. This makes the discourse on inter-caste marriage somewhat
ambivalent, there is already a cultural and social allowance for the practice, but only if the man is
in a higher caste. This allowance only reinforces caste and the larger patriarchal society which
caste is a part, as women are not as free to choose their mates as men are. A woman who
undergoes an inter-caste marriage typically loses ties to her kin group and her caste. Depending
on the difference and social disparity of the two castes, a woman may end up not being able to
fulfill the roles her family demands based on either a difference in culture do to religious
precepts. If the distance between the couple’s castes is very great, such as in the case of a
Brahmin and a Dalit, issues of ritual purity would make even eating daily meals difficult (Rao
2005: 234-48). Another problem faced by women in inter-caste marriages comes from cultural
differences and religious differences, which vary based on sub-caste and region.

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Considering these problems in inter-caste marriage, these problems ideally should have
little meaning due to the forces of urbanization and economic liberalization, at least in theory, as
the connection of caste and class is weakened by growing opportunities in the market being open
to people of different backgrounds and not just the traditional elite. This assumption about the
impact of economic liberalization was part of the basis for economic studies on caste and inter-
caste marriage in India by economists such as Banerjee and Duflo, who compared it initially to
Cole’s aristocratic equilibrium. The aristocratic equilibrium is based on status and wealth being
tied together, so that those of high class are also wealthy. Supposedly, the aristocratic
equilibrium is broken when wealth and status are separated. So a high class, low wealth woman
will increasingly choose those with wealth, even if the individuals chosen are low class
(Banerjee, Duflo, Ghatak & Lafortune 2009). While caste and class are not the same, those who
were of high caste traditionally would also have been high class in regards to having access to
wealth, education, opportunities, and greater economic mobility.
Inter-Caste Marriage Prevalence
Who normally has an inter-caste marriage in urban India? For the men, it’s usually those
who already married once and became either widowed or divorced. For women, they tend to be
employed, and are more likely than men to have an inter-caste marriage. Education itself does
not have any impact on whether inter-caste marriages happen more often, since the values of
individuals vary and people may choose intra-caste marriage, or marriage within one’s caste,
while not having animosity towards other castes or even those who have an inter-caste marriage.
In Southern India, a region more developed than most other parts of India, inter-caste marriages
are only 9.71% of total marriages in the region. The region with the most inter-caste marriages
is in Western India, with 17% of all marriages there being inter caste. The percentage of inter-

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caste marriage ranges from as low as 2-3% to 20% of marriages, such as Jammu and Kashmir
with 1.67% or Goa with 26.67%, averaging a total of about 10% of all marriages in India being
inter-caste marriages. Inter-caste marriages also depend on the particular development of the
state, with greater amounts of inter-caste marriage in more economically developed states such
as Maharastra and Punjab than in states like Rajasthan and Bihar (Das, Das, Roy & Tripathy
2011). In other words, more developed states have more inter-caste marriages, but the numbers
vary within states and the particulars of history and culture can shape whether there is an
acceptance of inter-caste marriage. Also, while education is important in dispelling bigoted
views, it doesn’t ensure that people pursue inter-caste marriages, which have more to do with
preferences and the feelings of the individual than with the level of education. Economic
development does help create the circumstances for an inter-caste marriage and for a society that
accepts the practice, but there are other factors going into inter-caste marriage.
Economics
In terms of economics, an inter-caste marriage traditionally was dangerous for several
reasons. First, the woman lost her caste ties and her social safety net would be at the mercy of
her new kin. If she was widowed without a male child, the woman could be abandoned by her
late husband’s relatives. Second, in some parts of India, the child of an inter-caste marriage
would be regarded negatively and have limited economic opportunities. Third, the practice of
dowry could impoverish the family as they try to make a socially acceptable dowry for their
daughter to the family of a groom from a different caste. In urban India, there is greater access
to banks, formal credit, and relatively more secure formal savings accounts. In urban areas, the
access to a formal banking system allows for individuals to save their money in secure accounts,
take out loans, or have access to checks. These financial tools allow for greater liquidity of

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wealth for individuals so that one’s wealth is not necessarily based on having a large herd or
gold, but on wealth in the bank itself, making it more easily used for daily transactions without
the need for barter. One example of this change is being able to write a check for the rent of a
house rather than paying the landlord with grain. Another benefit of these formal financial tools
is that they are based on legally enforced contracts, and those with savings accounts, for
example, have legal protections of their wealth.
In two separate studies run by economists using marriage ads in newspapers, the
economic incentives for inter-caste marriage were examined. Economists Banerjee, Duflo, and
others placed ads in newspapers to test caste preferences in marriage markets in Bengal and
found that intra-caste marriage was preferred due to a low social and economic cost, but a total
of 30% of respondents did not marry within their caste. They also found that 40% of the
children of those respondents used other sources for finding spouses, and 20% married in “love
matches” (Banerjee, Duflo, Ghatak & Lafortune 2009). Yet another experiment run by Dugar,
Bhattacharya, and Reiley showed that lower caste grooms with regular monthly incomes
received more letters of interest from high caste women based on how high their monthly
incomes were. The ads were placed with a third party so as to protect the identities of
respondents, allowing for confidential replies to the ads. While Kishwar points out the love of
money as a potential reason for people “falling in love”, these studies demonstrate the impact of
economic growth as lower castes have traditionally been more poor than the higher castes, and
that the high income can help replace the loss of caste status and the social safety net of one’s
caste (Dugar, Bhattacharya & Reiley: 2012). This means high caste women were willing to meet
with lower caste potential grooms and shows that inter-caste marriage is being considered as an
option where traditionally such a marriage would have been rarely considered due to the

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repercussions socially to the woman. While urban areas are more open to inter-caste marriage
for economic reasons, some wealthy families still practice intra-caste marriage for the sake of
keeping the wealth in the family, but these marriages are also to individuals of the same class
(“Business and Caste” 2007).
The government has tried financial incentives, such as cash stipends, to help encourage
inter-caste marriages, but about 74% of Indians still disapprove of inter-caste marriages. While
the incentives can range from 250 dollars to over 1,000 dollars, finance is clearly not the only
issue determining marriages. The social wrath against couples who marry outside of caste can be
severe, as was the case of one couple who were executed outside of New Delhi for marrying
outside of their castes by a mob directed by a khap which was against inter-caste marriages and
issued a ruling against the couple for violating the social norms the khap wanted to impose (Chu
2007). In cases like this one, khaps were responsible for the murders by issuing rulings and
influencing the community to target such couples. The current inconsistency of the government
in terms of influence, allows for the continued existence of such organizations as the khaps since
these traditional councils act as de facto governments and courts in areas where the government
is weak or inefficient.
Politics
Politically, caste is a major draw for votes and a base for some political parties.
Mentioned earlier are the khaps, a social political organization that originates from the traditional
elites in a given area, akin to a council or governing body of elders, which try to regulate the
people they impose their rule on (Singh 2010). While illegal, these groups are seen as potential
voting blocks and Indian politicians use caste identity as a means to garner votes. Therefore,

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some political groups and politicians survive on caste divisions and play off caste identity for
votes, such as the Peravai and Dr. S. Ramadoss in Southern Tamil Nadu. Caste identity also
relates to other issues dealing with Indian politics, such as the reservation system that was
enacted to help historically oppressed castes and economically “backward classes” to have a
voice in the government and to help encourage economic development for these traditionally
oppressed groups. Yet policies meant to mitigate caste based discrimination also served to give
new force to caste as political battles took on caste lines. The politicization of caste gave not
only new incentives for protecting the caste system as a means to gain votes, but new vested
interests related to the quotas also emerged (Dirks 2001: 274-296).
An example of how this politicized view of caste relations can erupt from inter-caste
marriage, there was a wedding in Southern Tamil Nadu that ended in a riot and was used to
support the position of a political party. A couple married in Southern Tamil Nadu, leading to a
riot in which Dalit homes were looted and burned. The couple is of different castes, the bride is
from the Vanneir caste and the groom is a Dalit. Yet the reasons for the actual looting and
burning of the Dalit homes had more to do with the growing tension between the Dalits and the
Vanneir, as the Dalits are growing in economic wealth and status while the Vanneir, who
traditionally owned the land that Dalits worked on, have lost workers for their farms. The Dalit
men now are going to Bangalore and working in the factories and setting up small businesses,
improving their status economically and allowing for greater access to wealth. Local politicians
have used this incident to play caste politics, particularly Dr. S. Ramadoss, founder of the Pattali
Makkal Katchi, who used the incident to further a campaign against love marriage and inter-
caste marriage by claiming that Dalits were planning to take Vannier women in marriage, and
that Dalits are against every other caste (Ramasubramanian, 2012). This use of caste politics

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used the inter-caste marriage of a higher caste woman and a Dalit as the catalyst to a riot which
was aimed at attacking perceived economic and social threats of Dalit empowerment through
higher incomes. After the riot, Dr. Ramadoss used the incident as evidence for a conspiracy of
Dalits going after Vanneir caste women as part of a plan to attack all other castes. While there is
no proof of this, the point was to win votes from anxious caste members.
An argument against intermarriage that has been made by groups like the Khaps and even
less fanatic individuals is the differences in culture and the desire to preserve cultural practices
and identity. At first this might sound strange, but the differences in caste groups are more than
just ancestral professions, and there are backlashes against government support of inter-caste
marriages based on these views. One such example are the current political groups in Southern
Tamil Nadu that are going to universities and arguing against inter-caste marriage. The khaps
can be seen as another example of a backlash as their issuing against couples who have inter-
caste marriages are based on notions of morality and tradition.
Culture
An argument against inter-caste marriage is that the couple would not be compatible
based on cultural differences and that these differences would ruin the viability of a successful
marriage. The differences between two castes can be as stark as the differences between
individuals from different countries, as Kancha Ilaiah pointed out in his book Why I am Not a
Hindu, in comparing the differences between the caste Hindus, particularly Brahmins, and the
Dalitbahujan. For the Dalitbahujan of Ilaiah’s example have a different set of religious beliefs,
practices, and even language, all of which differ greatly from Brahmins in India. Yet this
argument about differences can be made about any marriage, even those from the same culture

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can fail based on particular differences of the individual even if both partners share the same
culture. Many Indians prefer a stable marriage based on more than just romance, and cultural
differences are one such concern in the pursuit of a stable marriage. Yet many factors go into
making a stable marriage, such as compatible spouses and a stable flow of income to support the
couple. Even in urban areas where caste is less salient, home culture can be different. This is
especially true for migrants coming from all over India to work in the cities, which means the
culture clash argument can also be applied to members of the same caste.
Related to the argument of incompatible cultural differences is the argument of trying to
preserve cultural traits. In Southern India, where inter-caste marriage is more frequent, the
Peravai, a political and social group of caste Hindus in Tamil Nadu, arose in part to protect
“traditional values” which members believed were being eroded by inter-caste marriages. Yet
this argument belies another thread, that the values held by one caste are not always held by
other castes and that the distinct identity one sub-caste holds dear can be threatened by
intermarriages to the point that the distinct sub-caste no longer has a core identity of its own
(Ananth 2012). The group currently is trying to promote their views in universities in Southern
India, but has encountered criticism for their goals, chief among them to increase the numbers of
higher caste groups. Their reasons are chiefly political rather than cultural as the Peravai have
been criticized for playing caste politics like other groups in Tamil Nadu and their professed
goals focus more on keeping the lines of caste clear than actually preserving the cultures of the
different castes. Yet the argument of protecting and preserving a distinct cultural identity is
echoed by individuals in other parts of urban India.
Discussion

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The political, cultural, and economic arguments are all interrelated, each offering a
different reason for why inter-caste marriage is rare. Going back to the argument put forward by
the Peravai, there is the fear of losing numbers and caste traits due to integration and
intermarriage blurring the distinct identities of the various castes. Politically, this means that
traditionally high caste groups in South India come under greater pressure from caste politics as
the lower castes gain more economic and political influence due to voting blocks and the number
of individuals gaining subsidies from government programs meant to encourage inter-caste
marriages. Also, individuals from such unions would be less likely to support local initiatives
simply because of their caste. This can give rise to the fear of Dalits and other low caste men
targeting higher caste women for marriage, as part of a plot to undermine the status of the higher
castes.
The politics of caste also impact the debate since inter-caste marriages threaten the
practice of caste based campaigning and voting along caste lines. This debate is in response to
the rising power of the lower castes, through political means via the reservation system and
political parties as well as the rising wealth and economic power of the lower castes. As
individuals marry across caste lines, those politicized lines become harder to maintain as the
policies that might be favorable to one caste are harmful to another. The khaps and the Peravai
are both examples of a backlash that centers partly on the perceived political threat of either a
casteless or a caste indifferent society, as both are made up of high caste individuals that
traditionally held power and assets based on their caste. In an economically liberal market,
individuals of traditionally lower castes can become more powerful and wealthy than
traditionally high caste individuals.

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Taking these debates into consideration, inter-caste marriage is more than just whether
individuals of different castes can marry. While allowable between a high caste man and a lower
caste woman, inter-caste marriage doesn’t solve the problems of caste in traditional form.
Rather, traditional inter-caste marriage allows for the power dynamics of caste to survive even in
urban areas. With greater autonomy for women however, caste can weaken considerably as
caste places a lot of controls on women and their choices in marriage. The increased ability of
women to enter the workforce and to make a living on their own, as opposed to relying on male
relatives or husbands, is giving women greater control over whom they marry and how long they
stay married. The greater freedom is a by-product of economic liberalization and the forces of
globalization, such as new laws allowing greater education for women and opening of the
workforce to women and exposure to different norms of what marriage is like in other cultures
such as the West.
One example of this is the increase in woman-initiated divorces in urban areas due to
unhappiness in the marriage. This increase is due to greater economic independence of women
who are able to work and secure their own finances, greater awareness of their rights, and higher
expectations from their husbands and in the marriage. Traditionally women had inferior
positions in the marriage, and often divorce was impossible for social and financial reasons as
women were often beholden to their husband’s family for both shelter and for most income or
assets. Yet with more women gaining higher education, having greater access to jobs and
earning independent incomes, as well as their greater exposure to marriage norms outside of
India, the attitudes about divorce and marriage are starting to change (Buncombe 2008). The
importance of this rise in divorces is that women are now able to exit from unhappy marriages

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more readily, and are having some control over their marriages, due to the impact of female
empowerment.
While the number of inter-caste marriages is still low in India, there is a growing
acceptance of the practice amongst the younger generation. Another point to consider is that
inter-caste marriage numbers might actually be under reported for political reasons, as local
governments might wish to keep support from more conservative social elements who oppose
inter-caste marriage (Ghildiyal and Mathur 2010). The acceptance of inter-caste marriage
amongst the younger generation may allow for more inter-caste marriages in the future,
assuming this acceptance is able to counter groups like the Peravai and the khaps, while dealing
with the anxieties inter-caste marriage conjures up in the population. Even if these changes do
occur in urban India, most of the country is still rural, and caste will survive in the rural regions
of India. As India becomes more urban, the projected growth of urban populations will be due
mostly to migration from the rural areas, which might reinforce caste identity. Caste can survive
in some form but whether it survives as a salient identity in the cities depends on whether caste
can fulfill the needs of the youth.
What seems to weaken caste salience is the empowerment of women, and this can be
achieved through a combination of different forces, such as encouraging education and economic
independence for women. The use of inter-caste marriage only attempts to solve the problems of
caste based discrimination and inequality by creating marital bonds between people of different
castes. However, inter-caste marriage has been around for thousands of years, although it was
used to favor men’s interests. Examples of such preferential treatment include the double
standard towards sexual relations between the castes, where a high caste man can marry a lower
caste women but a high caste woman could be killed for marrying a low caste man, or the

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practice of forbidding female widows from re-marrying in some parts of India while allowing
male widowers to re-marry. While the government of India officially approves of inter-caste
marriage, the actual form inter-caste marriage takes is one that allows caste to survive, and
allows caste based political groups like the khaps to exist either due to weak governance in rural
areas or due to political parties playing on caste identity to win votes. Yet the increasing
economic independence of women in urban areas allows for greater freedom in other areas of life
including marriage for both women and men.
Also of interest is the fact that more youth accept the idea of inter-caste marriage than
their elders, and as such groups like the Peravai have to associate other issues with inter-caste
marriage to argue against it. The idea of marrying someone of a different caste in and of itself is
gaining acceptance, which forces groups like the Peravai to argue about the prevalence of loss of
culture, losing identity, caste numbers, and women who lose their property to husbands who then
abandon them. In other words, inter-caste marriage itself is not the problem but a stage for other
problems. Issues associated with inter-caste marriage, such as bride abandonment and cultural
loss are the “real” problems, meaning that the discussion of whether to have one is reframed for
possible allowances. The issues being associated are also curable with solutions that exist
outside of marriage itself. Bridal abandonment prevention requires better state action such as
prosecution of husbands who abandon their wives, and threats to culture being solved with
increased inter-cultural awareness.
Yet this picture of urban India can be read in two ways, one is an example of slow change
and policy failures by the government in dealing with social norms that are embedded in society.
Another is that the policies of the government and the impact of globalization are changing
Indian views on caste, and that such changes are primarily in the youth. Such changes would be

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more visible in the next few decades as these youth become the power brokers and heads of
society.
Demanding that caste become irrelevant via inter-caste marriage is something that,
assuming it’s even realistic, will take time. It was only in the 1950s that the government legally
recognized and protected the right to marry outside of caste, and there is more acceptance of
inter-caste marriage as an idea than in the past. Perhaps in the next generation or two, caste will
lose the dominance it once had in marital relations as India becomes more urbanized and the lack
of traditionally “suitable” spouses forces compromise on normally rigid adherence to caste
norms to be eased. While Gandhi and Ambedkar agreed on intermarriage being necessary to
destroy caste based inequalities, they should have encouraged empowering women and the role
of cities as meeting places for the different castes.
Work Cited
Anti inter –caste marriage campaign begins. (2012, July 16). The Deccan Chronicle, Retrieved
from http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/cities/chennai/anti-inter-caste-marriage-
camaign-begins-935
Ananth, M. K. (2012, July 16). Educated caste hindu youth campaign against inter-caste
marriage. The Hindu, Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-
tamilnadu/educated-caste-hindu-youth-campaign-against-intercaste-
marriages/article3644332.ece
Banerjee, A., Duflo, E., Ghatak, M., & Lafortune, J. (2009). Marry for what? caste and mate
selection in modern india. Informally published manuscript, MIT Economics, MIT, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, Retrieved from http://economics.mit.edu/files/4113

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Buncombe, A. (2008, April 22). Monsoon divorce. The Independent . Retrieved from
http://www.independent.ie/world-news/asia-pacific/monsoon-divorce-1355304.html
Business and caste in india: With reservations. (2007, October 04). The Economist, Retrieved
from http://www.economist.com/node/9909319
Caste outfit to 'teach' against inter-caste marriages in schools. (2012, October 15). The New
Indian Express, Retrieved from
http://newindianexpress.com/states/tamil_nadu/article1300011.ece
Chowdhury, S. (2012, April 09). Historic urbanization in india means big changes for youth,
family structure. Global Press Institute. Retrieved from
http://www.globalpressinstitute.org/asia/india/historic-urbanization-india-means-big-changes-
youth-family-structure/page/0/1
Chu, H. (2007, November 4). In india, a gift for inter-caste couples. The Los Angeles Times.
Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2007/nov/04/world/fg-marry4
Das, K., Das, K. C., Roy, T. K., & Tripathy, P. K. (2011). Dynamics of inter-religious and
inter-caste marriages in india. Informally published manuscript, Princeton, Nassau Hall, NJ,
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