Rakshasa Marriage

One of the eight ways to perform a marriage recognized in the dharma literature, the treatises on religious duty. The
rakshasas are a class of demon, and the
rakshasa form of marriage took place
when a man had intercourse with a
woman after carrying her away by force.
Not surprisingly, this was one of the four
reprehensible (aprashasta) forms of
marriage and was forbidden because of
the woman’s lack of consent, even
though it was deemed a valid marriage.
(Here the writers’ concern seems to have
been to give the “bride” legal status as a
wife rather than to legitimate the actions
of the “groom.”) Theoretically valid, this
form of marriage has been forbidden
since the dharma literature was first
codified in the centuries before the
common era. Although the rakshasa
marriage has never been one of the
accepted forms of marriage, there are
groups in which a ritualized battle and
capture of the bride is part of the wedding ceremony. One could even interpret the barat, the procession of the
groom and his family to the wedding
location, as a ritualized triumphal entry
following conquest. See also marriage,
eight classical forms, marriage ceremonies, and marriage prohibitions.