Gandharva Marriage

One of the eight forms of marriage recognized in the dharma literature, the
treatises on religious duty. A Gandharva
marriage takes place when a man and
woman have sexual intercourse by
mutual consent, but without consulting
anyone else. The marriage is so named
because gandharvas, who are demigods
and celestial musicians, are said to be
the witnesses. Although the gandharva
rite created a valid marriage, it was considered one of the four reprehensible
(aprashasta) forms of marriage because
it was done without parental consent,
performed without religious rituals, and
was rooted in lust. These marriages were
recognized not to sanction and legitimize promiscuous behavior, but to provide the woman with the legal status of a
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Gandharva Marriage
wife. Although Sanskrit literary sources
are replete with Gandharva marriages—
perhaps the most famous being the
marriage of King Dushyanta and
Shakuntala—it is doubtful that this
form was ever widely practiced. See also
marriage, eight classical forms.