Khanadamadi and its Provenance in a Kashmir

Marriage is an important institution in human society that varies from place to place and from time to time. Kashmir during 19th century witnessed a novel form of marriage called Khanadamadi. In khanadamad marriage, a man (khanadamad) marries the daughter (dukhtai-khana-nishin) of a proprietor and instead of taking the girl away to his parental home lives among his in-laws where he performs services, manages the property and procreate. Though this form of marriage was performed by the Hindus during ancient times and was recognized by Hindu law-books. But during nineteenth century this marriage has become common among Muslims, where a father instead of having legitimate son(s) prefer Khanadamad for his daughter. Inspite of public resentment, this form of marriage became popular under Sikhs and has kept its momentum during Dogra period as well. This research paper is an attempt to understand Khanadamadi marriage and effort has been made to trace the root causes of this institution.