Marriage: 100 Stories Around India’s Favourite Ritual

by Devdutt Pattanaik

‘Because,’ Parvati replied, ‘marriage is not just the quenching of desire. It is also about looking

beyond one’s own desires at the desires of others. It is about caring and sharing.’ Shiva liked her words and agreed to marry her.

The story draws attention to the role of spouses in balancing the energies of their husbands or wives. Like the Chinese yin-yang, Indian tantra has ida-pingala, or moon-sun, to represent the balanced couple.

A wife enables a man to repay his debt to his ancestors, by fathering children. That is why marriage was invented. A wife thus liberates her husband from debt. She saves the ancestors from eternal suffering. When father’s name and lineage determined social status then marriage became essential.

fatherhood is more of an emotional fact, rather than a biological one.

Satisfaction is not a function of the wife or wives. It is about how much control we have on our minds.