Reed Megan N
Emory University.
J Marriage Fam. 2025 May 9. doi: 10.1111/jomf.13115.
This study examines the role of roka marriage engagements in blurring the distinction between self-choice, also known as "love" marriage, and arranged marriage in urban India.
Arranged marriage remains highly prevalent in India though recent research suggests that arranged marriages today increasingly incorporate elements of choice and compatibility. Previous research, however, has overlooked the important role of marriage engagements in this transformation. In North India, a roka ceremony often formalizes an arranged marriage match and marks the beginning of the engagement period.
This study uses data from 48 interviews conducted in 2018 and 2019 with recently married couples, unmarried young people, and parents in the New Delhi area. All respondents were part of the college-educated middle class.
Couples in arranged marriages were found to engage in courtship during their engagement, drawing on the scripts of romantic love and deviating from traditional practices which disallowed contact before the wedding. This courtship sometimes leads to a broken engagement. Roka engagements are also important, albeit to different aims, for couples in premarital romantic relationships. They often use the roka engagement to signal that they have obtained parental endorsement of their self-chosen match, an important step in avoiding social stigma and achieving the social legitimacy of their relationship.
The case of roka engagements reveals important ways in which the definition of arranged marriage has expanded to incorporate romantic love, compatibility, and autonomy.
本研究探讨在印度城市地区，“洛克”婚约在模糊自主选择（即所谓“爱情”婚姻）与包办婚姻之间界限方面所起的作用。
包办婚姻在印度仍然非常普遍，不过近期研究表明，如今的包办婚姻越来越多地融入了选择和相容性元素。然而，以往研究忽视了婚约在这一转变过程中的重要作用。在印度北部，“洛克”仪式通常会使包办婚姻匹配正式化，并标志着订婚期的开始。
本研究使用了2018年和2019年对新德里地区新婚夫妇、未婚青年及父母进行的48次访谈所得数据。所有受访者均属于受过大学教育的中产阶级。
研究发现，包办婚姻中的夫妻在订婚期间会进行求爱，借鉴浪漫爱情的模式，背离了婚礼前禁止接触的传统习俗。这种求爱有时会导致婚约解除。对于婚前处于浪漫关系中的情侣而言，“洛克”婚约尽管目的不同，但也很重要。他们常常利用“洛克”婚约来表明他们已获得父母对其自主选择对象的认可，这是避免社会耻辱并实现其关系社会合法性的重要一步。
“洛克”婚约的案例揭示了包办婚姻定义扩展以纳入浪漫爱情、相容性和自主性的重要方式。
